The Legend of Dwayne and Lisa
by Foowd
Summary: Siblings Dwayne and Lisa Reed only ever had each other, neither ever knowing who their parents really were. However things change when they both find themselves warped to the dragon realms and turned into dragons. Soon they will not only have to contend with a new threat that looms over Spyro's world, but they may just learn something about themselves along the way...
1. The Girl in The Robe

**Author's Note:**

**Hello again, I'm back again to bring the pain with another ridiculous story that will either make you tear your hair out at all the horrible typos, or scar you for life with it's horrible dribble I call prose, or sometimes even both!**

**And those ones... are the _special_ ones...**

**We're going back into the realms of "humans to dragons" again, (for the third time if you count Remember Me and Legend of Zane as such. ) No I'm not going to go into the rant about the reputation of this premise again. I've already said my piece on this subject in the author's notes of "A Tale of Four Friends" and it can still be found there.**

**But also once again, I'm gonna do this a bit differently. Because when do I ever do things normally? Normal is boring, I'd tell you how this is but you'll see... you'll see...**

**I would like to thank one Draconic Starblade for helping me come up with this one.**

**Spyro the Dragon and all related characters are © Activision, which I have zero affiliation with, trust me Tony Hawk Ride would have never happened if I did. **

**I do however own ****Dwayne Reed**

**L****isa Reed belongs to my brother IIBiohazardousII**

* * *

**Chapter 1: ****The Girl in the Robe**

* * *

"Yeah I know, look I've got it right here, I found a used copy for like five bucks... it's fine Lisa... you're worrying over nothing... I'll be back soon okay? Okay..." I said before hanging up. I bet you're wondering about that aren't you? Let me start at the beginning. My name is Dwayne Reed, at least, that's what Ms. Terrence named me. See, me and my sister Lisa are both orphans. No one has a single clue who the hell we are nor were we came from. Hell according to the government neither me nor Lisa existed before Ms. Terrence found us on the front stoop. Just left, abandoned.

You'd think with a past like that that I'd be super angsty, depressed, and all "f**k the world!" or something. But no, I was fine, granted, I dressed like a goth, and my long, raven black hair didn't help that, but I wasn't exactly whining about how "life is pain" or something dumb like that.

Why was I at the local game store? Well, my little sister Lisa loves Spyro, especially the Legend series. And for some reason we had both A New Beginning and Eternal Night, but didn't have Dawn of the Dragon. So I went off to the Mall to go buy it with some extra money I had saved up. She's about 12 and me 16. I was her overprotective older brother. Some of the kids at the orphanage picked on her, but since I was taller than most of them they'd go running the second I came running in.

I left the store and planted my skateboard on the sidewalk, I was a skater yes, it helped me relax when I was stressed, which was often. It was a nice way for me to get around too. I rode down the streets, doing random tricks every so often. However soon I came up to a staircase, I figured I could totally make the stair gap. I rolled up to it...

Nope, I missed my Ollie by a good two feet, and the second my board his the step I lost my footing and tumbled down the stairs, cursing the whole way down. The game slid across the pavement as it was launched out of it's bag like a cannon ball. After writhing in pain for a few minutes I went to grab it but someone else already did. The held it up to me, intending on giving it back. "You dropped this." they said, it was a girl, I could tell by the voice, she sounded about my age. I looked up to see that she was wearing a hooded robe of all things.

I cautiously took the game from her, "Uhh... thanks?" I said as I took it. The hooded girl said nothing else, she just turned and walked away, I had noticed that as she walked, her robe revealed her feet, and they kinda looked like... paws.

Did I just meet a furry? Whatever, I dusted myself off, picked my board off the ground, and skated off...

* * *

I watched as he rode off on that board thing. He had no clue what he really was, I could tell, it didn't matter though, I did what I was sent here to. I reached into my robe and removed a glowing cube, it was what we mages used to communicate with one another. "It's done." I told my mentor on the other end.

"Good, now return back to our world, our friends will be there shortly." She said before I nodded and put it away. I couldn't risk attracting unwanted attention. Magic didn't exist here, and if they saw me with a magic object they'd panic... and I couldn't risk that...

* * *

_**Later...**_

* * *

I got back to the orphanage in record time, all the while I couldn't help but feel like something was off... what was up with that girl I ran into? Why a robe? Why did she have paws? I walked through the building, not paying much mind to the other kids. Just a straight shot to my sister's room.

I opened the door to find her on her computer, probably talking to her online friends. "Hey." I greeted tossing the game onto her bed. Lisa was a lot more brightly dressed than I was, with her pink shirt with black undershirt. Black jeans, and white sneakers with pink and purple trim. "Thanks Dwayne." She said snatching it from it's place.

I left her alone after that, and went into my own room next door. However I didn't get to stay there long as I heard Lisa call my name not ten seconds later. With a groan I walked back into her room to see what her problem was. "What is it?" I asked, not even trying to hide my annoyance.

Lisa pointed to the screen which had some weird black and purple vortex thing going on. "I don't think it's supposed to do that." She said.

I watched the screen for a while, thinking it would come out of it eventually, but it never did. "Must be scratched or something..." I suggested before going to remove the game from the Xbox so I could inspect the disc. But the second I did I suddenly felt something pulling on me. I looked to see the vortex on screen had somehow, someway **left** the TV and was now enveloping me and Lisa!

"Dwayne... what's going on?!" Lisa asked. What the hell made her think **I** knew?! We soon both lost consciousness...

* * *

_**Meanwhile... in a Realm far away...**_

* * *

I jumped as a I saw two books suddenly appear in my collection of many. I, The Chronicler, in charge of watching over these tomes, puzzled at the sudden appearance of these two books. This only ever happened if a dragon was born, but it was not yet the year of the dragon. "How curious..." I commented as I removed the two books from their place.

I opened the first, and was quite amazed with what I found. "It's impossible!" I exclaimed, this could not be...

No one but Spyro and Cynder had survived the temple raid all those years ago...

* * *

_**Later in an unknown location...**_

* * *

I groaned as I regained consciousness, I could feel the soft grass under me, however something wasn't quite right, my body felt... wrong... I tried to stand up, but my body refused to move, it felt really really sore, like I had pulled every muscle in my body or something. "Hey... are you okay?" I heard someone ask.

I mumbled something unintelligible, man even moving my mouth hurt like hell, I then felt something pick me up, holding me bridal style. "We should take him to Warfang so he can be healed." I heard another voice say, my vision was blurry, all I could make out were two blobs, one was carrying me in it's arms, the other standing over the first one.

The two then carried me off, what the hell happened? Where the hell am I? I wanted to know, but couldn't find the strength to ask them. God my body felt like it was on fire right now. "How is he?" the figure suddenly asked his friend after a bit of walking. "He seems to be in a great deal of pain. Do you think he was attacked by one of the husks?" He replied. Husks? You know what? I don't wanna know.

"Could be, those things are such ruthless savages, attacking a young dragon like that... I wouldn't put it past them or the dark mages that give them life." the other figure spat.

Whoa... hold up there... dragon? Dude, I am NOT a dragon! I'm a sixteen year old human with girly hair. How the hell do you mistake **that** for a dragon? I would have said this, but my body would much rather not move right now. All I could muster was a pathetic whimper. I suddenly felt a hand stroking my head. "There there little one, you're safe now." one of the figures cooed.

My vision began to clear a little, allowing me to see who it was that was carrying me, I would have screamed at what I saw, but that would require moving which my body didn't want to. They were two anthropomorphic cats, they kinda looked like long haired cheetahs with big pointy ears, weirder still was that I could have sworn I had seen creatures like this somewhere before but I couldn't place it.

And if the sight of these two wasn't enough to shock me to my core, then what had become of my body sure as hell did. For I noticed that I was now some kind of red lizard or reptile, with a black underbelly. I was also considerably smaller than I was when I was human, about the size of a coyote if I were to hazard a guess.

I wasn't moving much physically, but in my mind I was freaking out like my hair was on fire! How the hell did this happen?! Why?! This was wrong on SO many levels. I tried to move my arm to get a better look but such a task resulted in a cavalcade of horrible screaming agony, making me spurt more pitiful whimpering. "Easy now! Try not to move so much!" One of the cheetahs said.

You know, I wasn't going to argue with him, at least I had an idea of why my body felt like I had just tried to beat up Hulk Hogan. You'd be sore too if **your **body had just undergone ungodly genetic realignment! I just wish I knew **how** this happened. I kept playing recent events back over and over again in my mind trying to pin point when this could have possibly happened.

For some reason I kept thinking back to that girl in the robe. Did she do this? It was the only thing that even began to make sense. Maybe when my body stopped hurting I could ask one of these two if they knew...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

My body hurt... it hurt a lot. Like I had just ran a cross country marathon or something... I tried to get up... but my muscles refused to budge. I opened my eyes to see I was in some kind of oasis. I could see the lake and waterfall from where I was laying. I also noticed something a bit less calming...

My body had completely changed, I was now a pink lizard thing. It wasn't until I saw a small bat wing drooping from my back that I pieced together I was now a dragon. That had to be it, this would be kinda cool if it didn't mean I was now a completely different species! How did this happen? Was it when the game Dwayne brought home exploded? How does that even work? I tried to stand again, it hurt a lot, but I managed to get to my feet, but soon flopped back onto the ground. I whimpered in defeat, completely immobile.

What was I going to do? I couldn't move, in too much pain to even stand on my own... four feet. This was a horrible situation no matter **how** you sliced it. I was now a dragon, in who knows were, completely helpless. "You seem to be in quite the predicament little one." I heard an old, gnarled voice say from behind me.

I craned my head over to see a cheetah man of all things looming over me, his fur was gray and slightly mangled. He wore a black hood over his head with green trim. A metallic paw print buckle holding it in place, and a staff clutched in his hand with a crystal ball of some kind on the end of it. "Wh... where am I?" I said weakly.

The cheetah let out a dry, gnarled laugh. "You really don't know do you child?" He asked me. Uhh... yeah that's why I asked you. "Oh I think you know this place quite well child... for you've been here before. Even if you don't remember it." He said.

What the heck was **that** supposed to mean? Who was this nutcase? He kinda looked familiar, like I'd seen him somewhere before but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. "You'll find the truth eventually little one, if you live that long!" The old cheetah said before going into another dry hail of laughter. I would have backed away from the crazy old man but my body would much rather lay there motionless.

The old man then looked back down at me. "The husks will find you in time... and when they do... it may not be long before you find yourself amongst their ranks..." He said before noticing something and running off.

"Look!" I heard a familiar voice say, but just like the cheetah, I had no clue where I had heard it before. Suddenly I heard the sounds of footsteps on grass. I was suddenly finding it harder to move, I think my body was giving out... I was fighting just to stay awake at this point.

"Is she hurt?" I heard another familiar voice say to the other one. This one was clearly male, while the previous one had been female. I then felt someone checking me for injuries. "Not from what I can tell, we should take her to the temple just in case." The female voice said.

I then felt something wiggle it's way under me, then lift me on it's back. I was finally able to see at least a little bit of who it was that had found me. They were clearly dragons from what I could tell, the one carrying me was black, the other was purple. I managed to muster enough strength to lift my head to see the face of at least one of my rescuers... and what I saw... I couldn't believe it.

The purple dragon noticed me do this and walked over to me. Allowing me to get a better look, there was no denying it now... this was Spyro the Dragon. He looked exactly like he did in the games. "You okay? Can you move?" He asked me. I couldn't even muster a response, too shocked at literally being face to face with one of my favorite video game characters. "How does she look?" The other dragon asked Spyro.

Spyro looked me over again, "Her eyes are a bit glazed over, but she should be fine once we get her to Warfang." He said. The dragon carrying me then crouched down. "Wait! It might not be a good idea to fly with her on your back Cynder. She might fall off." Spyro said, revealing that the dragon carrying me was Cynder. I had so many questions running through my head. Questions I was too weak to even ask...

What was going on here?!

* * *

**A/N- How did Dwayne and Lisa end up in Spyro's world? Why are they suddenly dragons now?! What are the "Husks"? Well you're just going to have to keep reading to find out!**


	2. The Dragon City

**Chapter 2: The Dragon City**

* * *

The two cheetahs carried me for what felt like an eternity, an eternity cut a bit short due to me passing out along the way. I had learned the two cheetah's names were Taven and Darius, they were apparently brothers, and bickered quite a bit. With Darius telling Taven they were going the wrong way numerous times and Taven insisting he knew where he was going. From what I could tell, Darius was the responsible older brother, and Taven was the lazy, easy going little brother, and the one carrying me.

"I'm telling you Taven, we're lost." Darius said as we walked through the thick forest. "We're not lost Darius, I've been to Warfang before, I know where I'm going." Taven insisted. The name of the city they keep talking about, Warfang, I **know** I've heard that name somewhere before! But where? God dammit brain! At least give me a clue!

Darius suddenly stopped Taven, Taven groaning as he did this. "Relax, I'm just checking on our dragon friend." Darius reassured him. He then looked me over, I was far less... out of it... than when they found me. I think I could actually talk now, but I couldn't tell them I was actually a human, because if I did then they might freak out and leave me for dead or something. Besides, I didn't know if dragons were known for talking anyway.

Darius looked me over, "Can you speak?" He asked me. Well that answered that question. I had a bad feeling Darius would assault me with questions I had no answers to if I did respond, but if I didn't it'd probably make them think I was a lot worse off than I really was.

Well, might as well bite the bullet. "Y...yeah.." I said, talking with a snout was a lot more difficult than I thought it'd be. Every movement just felt... wrong. I hoped that I'd get used to it eventually.

Darius seemed pleased with my answer. "Do you have a name?" He then asked. Crap, do I give them my real name? Or do I make up something stupid? I was never good at making up names on the fly, and I'd also have to train myself to answer to it too. So, might as well just use my real name and avoid the hassle. "Dwayne." I said, I would have given my last name, but I doubted dragons **had **last names. "Bizarre name for a dragon." Taven commented.

Darius gave his younger brother an annoyed look. "Don't be rude Taven. He's already in pain, he doesn't need you making fun of him on the side." Darius lectured him. To which Taven just rolled his eyes. Darius then looked back down to me. "Please excuse my younger brother Dwayne, Taven and manners haven't ever really gone hand and hand." Darius said.

I heard a small growl come from Taven. "What's **that** supposed to mean?!" He snarled.

Darius had a small laugh. "Come now brother, you know it's true." Darius said. Taven just huffed and continued on his way. I could believe they were brothers, they certainly **acted** like brothers...

Wait... oh man! I can't believe I forgot! "LISA!" I said, I began to squirm trying to get free from Taven. It hurt like hell but my worry over my sister completely overwrote my aversion to pain.

But Taven's grip proved too strong for me. "Calm down! Hey! Stop that! STOP IT! OW! You're cutting into my arms!" Taven protested.

"My sister! She's out there somewhere!" I cried. If my theory about the vortex thing taking us here was right, then she had to be here too. And she didn't have two cheetahs helping her out like me. She could be hurt, or dying, or worse!

"Calm yourself Dwayne! You're hurt! And your struggling will only make it worse!" Darius said trying to help his brother keep me from escaping. I gave up, there was no way I was going to get free from Taven at this rate. "Relax Dwayne, we'll inform the dragons of your sister when we get there, and with any luck they'll find her before harm can come to her. But right now I need you to remain calm." Darius said to me.

Who knows how long that would take! Wh... what if she was dying? She was my little sister and I couldn't do anything to help her. "Do we have time to search for her ourselves?" Taven suggested.

However Darius shook his head. "No, it's almost nightfall. It'll be too dark to search for her." Darius said. My heart sank, I knew my sister had to be here, I could feel it in my gut. But Darius was right, we were short on daylight, and it's be impossible to find her in the dark. I just hoped that she was okay wherever she was...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Me and Cynder had been walking for who knows how long, the little dragon was fast asleep on Cynder's back, probably exhausted from whatever it was that had happened to her. Looking at her she couldn't be any older than 12, her horns hadn't fully grown yet, and her little mane that ran down her head wasn't fully grown either. Her colors were a bit odd, pink scales with a black underbelly. Then again I hadn't seen very many dragons since very few had survived the war so maybe this was more common than I thought. I'm sure the guardians would know.

"Spyro, it's getting late, we'll never find our way back to Warfang before it gets too dark to see, I really think it'd be better if we flew." Cynder pointed out. I hated to admit it, but she was right, at this rate we'd never get back to Warfang without stumbling in the dark. "I'll try not to move too much so she won't fall off." Cynder added.

Reluctantly me and Cynder prepped for take off. We hadn't gone too far from Warfang before we found the little dragon. So we hopefully could make it there without the little dragon falling off of Cynder's back.

All the while I kept asking myself were she came from, and what happened to her? I had seen that hermit with her when we first spotted her, did he do this? Or had he found her like that? Hopefully when she recovered I could ask her about it.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

We finally reached Warfang according to Taven. Who of course didn't pass up on the chance to rub it in his brother's face. The city looked bizarrely familiar... wait a second...

I know where this is! I've seen it before! Warfang! It was the dragon city from Legend of Spyro! It was insane to even think it, that was a video game after all, but there was no mistaking it, this was the city from Dawn of the Dragon. I had seen screen shots of it online, and even saw it in a Let's Play on YouTube. This was the city from the games!

That's when I finally put two and two together, that game had sucked us into the Legend of Spyro verse! It was ridiculous, but it made an insane sort of sense. And it also made it seem more likely that that girl in the hood had something to do with this, she must have messed with the game somehow. How I have no clue, but I knew she did **something**. I probably should keep my mouth shut about it though, I don't think anyone here would react well to the idea of being fictional video game characters. Or even know what a video game _is_ for that matter.

"So, do you happen to know where the dragon temple is Taven?" Darius asked almost mockingly. I meanwhile kept marveling at the city, it was breathtaking in person, the streets were all lit by candle light and torches, making it look like it was ripped right out of Final Fantasy. It was certainly more impressive in person than through a computer screen that was for sure. "Well I've never been there myself, but I'm willing to bet it's that rather impressive looking structure over there." Said Taven pointing to one such structure.

It towered over all the other buildings, it was about the size of a football stadium, and looked relatively newer than most of the buildings in the city. Statues of dragons flanked it on both sides. Taven and Darius walked up the steps of the temple. Me still wondering how the hell I got sucked into a video game. One does not simply get sucked into a virtual world! This wasn't Digimon! There had to be **some** kind of explanation for me going into a video game world sans humanity!

"Hold on Taven! We cannot just barge in on the dragon guardians unannounced! It's rude!" Darius pointed out.

Taven groaned in annoyance. "Seriously brother? Poor Dwayne is sore from head to toe, possibly injured internally, and you're worried about being _rude_?" Taven said. You know, he's kinda right, we had more important problems here than courtesy.

Darius huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm just saying it doesn't seem right." he said. Taven just rolled his eyes and continued up the steps.

However he then turned to his brother. "Then you can stay out here, and I'll take Dwayne in so he can be tended to." He said teasingly before continuing towards the temple.

Darius rolled his eyes and followed us inside. It was pretty clear this was a very different temple than the one from the games, it was far more impressive for one thing, with halls comprised of stone columns ripped right from ancient Greece. There were flags hanging from the ceiling, each one of a different element. Despite the place's size it was actually quite well lit with all the torches and chandeliers that littered the area. "Ahem... excuse me." I heard said from behind us.

Taven and Darius turned to see that one of the guardians had found us. It was clearly Volteer. Well if I wasn't 100% sure I was in Legend of Spyro before I certainly was now. However Volteer differed slightly from his video game counterpart, I could see little surges of electricity sparking from his scales. He also had clearer signs of age on his face. His golden eyes widened upon seeing me. "What is this?" He asked.

Darius stepped in. "Forgive us great guardian, but my brother and I found this young dragon in the woods, unable to even stand on his own four feet, so we decided to take him here in hopes we could find him help." Darius explained to Volteer.

Volteer looked me over, "How puzzling, I don't recall ever seeing you around here before young dragon. May I inquire what your name is young one?" He asked, oh great, he had a vocabulary just like he did in the games. I had a feeling I was going to have to carry a dictionary around with me just so I could understand what the hell this dragon was saying.

"Dwayne... sir." I said skittishly. "Bizarre name for a dragon, but easy to remember at least." Volteer said cheerfully. Outside of a few minor details Volteer was pretty true to form. He even **sounded** exactly like his video game counterpart which was **really** weird.

"I hate to bother you any further guardian, but Dwayne had told us he has a sister lost within the forest. We would have searched for her ourselves but nightfall was fast approaching and we would have surely gotten lost if we had done so. Is there anything that can be done?" Darius asked Volteer.

Volteer gave Darius a solemn look. "That's quite unfortunate. I doubt there's much that can be done about Dwayne's missing sibling. Spyro and Cynder had gone out earlier in search of any husks that may be lingering in the forest, hopefully they might have happened upon her on their patrol." Volteer explained.

I couldn't stop a tear from escaping my eye, the thought of Lisa out there in the forest, alone and helpless, it was a horrible thing to contemplate. Volteer noticed this. "There there Dwayne, you shouldn't assume the worst, I'm certain your sister is fine." He reassured me.

All I could do was nod, I couldn't help but worry, since neither of us knew our parents, we always relied on each other, I always had to be the strong big brother that would always be there to protect her. But now I couldn't, and who knows what horrible things were in that forest just waiting to rip her apart... I felt so helpless...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

We reached the temple in record time. And thankfully the little dragon hadn't fallen off along the way. Me and Cynder wasted no time trying to find one of the Guardians in hopes of figuring out what happened to her.

Soon enough though, we happened to find Volteer, he was talking with someone, a pair of cheetahs I had never seen before. When I got closer I noticed that one of them had a dragon around me and Cynder's age in his arms. He looked a lot like the little dragon we had. Only he was red instead of pink. Volteer then noticed us. "Ah... Spyro, Cynder, we were just talking about you two." Volteer greeted.

I then saw the red dragon's eyes go wide when he saw the pink dragon slumped over Cynder's back. "Lisa?!" He said before managing to get out of the cheetah's arms and landing on the stone floor, which apparently hurt him quite a bit given the expression on his face and the curse word he grunted. "Lisa are you okay? Lisa!" The red dragon said to the unconscious pink dragon.

"Dwayne! Dwayne calm yourself!" Volteer said, the red dragon, Dwayne apparently, backed off.

"Me and Cynder found her in the forest while on patrol. She was so weak she couldn't even stand. But she's fine otherwise." I explained, hoping to put Dwayne at ease.

Cynder then stepped forward. "We were hoping we could find out what happened to her." Cynder added.

Volteer paused for thought for a moment, "Before we do anything, I think it would be most prudent to acquire some spirit gems for these two. They both seem to be in quite a bit of pain." Volteer explained. I couldn't disagree with that, I could tell just by looking at him that just standing was hurting Dwayne quite a bit.

* * *

It had to be Lisa, I could just tell, god standing hurt like hell right now, but after a few spirit gems, which apparently served the same purpose they did in the games, as health and energy pickups, I'm sure me and Lisa would be feeling a lot better.

Volteer lead us all down the halls to what he called the "infirmary". Every step I took felt like I was dragging fifty pound weights with them. Not helped by me not being used to walking on all fours. "Dwayne are you certain you can walk on your own?" Darius asked me.

"It's not that far, I'll be fine." I said, trying my best to hide how much this hurt and failing miserably. Really I was more worried about Lisa than myself, she just laid there, slumped limply over Cynder's back. Spyro had said she was fine, but I couldn't help but have doubts...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

The return to the dragon realms was much easier than I thought, all though hopping realms was still quite difficult for an apprentice like myself, and took a lot out of me. But it was worth it, surely my mentor would be pleased with my success. And she'd have all she needed to execute her plans.

The castle was dark, lit only by a few torches, letting me know it was nightfall. I ascertained that I was in the dungeons, dammit! I always mess up the return spells! Well at least I didn't land in a lake this time. I walked through the dark corridors until I just so happened to find one of my mentor's captives. A fire dragon named Blaze, he was a deep red with an underbelly as dark as night. He was chained in place by a collar around his neck. His black horse like mane filthy and unkempt from years of neglect. "What do you want?" He said to me coldly.

I turned to him. "We found them..." I told him, his eyes widened in both shock and horror at this news.

However his shock quickly turned to anger as he tried to lash out at me, but his chains kept him a safe distance away from me. "You WITCH! If you hurt them... so help me, I will kill you right now!" He roared.

I let out a confident chuckle. "How? Those chains keep you from attacking me with your teeth and claws, and you have no mana to use your fire breath. You're helpless." I explained to him.

Blaze backed down in defeat. Unable to cope with what he had just learned. "You really thought you could hide them from my master didn't you? That she'd never find them? I guess you dragons aren't as wise as they say you are." I taunted him before leaving the broken fire dragon alone... I had more pressing matters to attend to.

* * *

**A/N- Who is this mysterious girl in the cloak? Who is she working for? And what connection does this fire dragon have with our heroes? Stay tuned!**


	3. The Dragon In Chains

**Chapter 3: The Dragon In Chains**

* * *

It was a bizarre sensation, having Spirit Gems used on me, I could feel the energy from them rushing through my body like blood through my veins. All the pain I was in had been washed away by that energy, I felt good, like I could take on the world. Thankfully Lisa had awoken after Volteer used a spirit gem on her too. She didn't seem any worse for ware, which was a **huge** load off my mind. Now all there was left was to do is find out how this happened, and more importantly, find a way back home.

Problem was I had no clue how to go about doing that, I couldn't tell them we were actually humans, they'd probably throw us out or at least be very distrusting of us. So me and Lisa had agreed to keep out humanity a secret for now, until we either gained Spyro and company's trust, or we had no other option.

I had told Volteer about the girl in the hood, I left out a few details to keep my humanity a secret, but gave him the basic gist, thankfully I didn't have to work too hard to explain this without letting my secret out. "And that's all I know." I said finishing up.

Spyro and Volteer both looked at each other. "The mages?" Spyro asked Volteer. Mages? I don't recall there being mages in The Legend of Spyro so I had no clue what they were talking about.

Volteer nodded to Spyro, then looked at me. "Recently we've been having trouble with a group of magic users, for reasons unknown they've been attacking us periodically. Sending The Husks after us... causing all kinds of trouble." Volteer explained.

"The husks? What are the husks?" I asked. None of this was in the games, so I was completely lost here.

Volteer nodded "The Husks are... deceased dragons given life by the mages, they're mindless, sadistic killing machines. Slaves to the wills of the sorcerers that resurrected them. We call them Husks because that's what they are, empty husks filled only with dark magic." Volteer elaborated. So in other words, they had zombie dragons... that's both simultaneously awesome, and stupid at the same time.

However, something didn't quite add up. Why the hell would the mages abduct me and Lisa and turn us into dragons? It made no sense, maybe they wanted to turn us into husks? But why me and Lisa then? We were only kids, not exactly the best option for your evil undead dragon army. I had a bad feeling I'd find out eventually...

Volteer then turned to leave. "We should discuss this further with Cyril and Terrador, I'll go fetch them." Volteer said before walking off, Spyro following closely behind for some reason.

* * *

Call me paranoid, but Dwayne seemed to be very vague when it came to the details of what happened to him and his sister. I don't know what it was, but something seemed a bit... off about Dwayne and Lisa, and I needed to talk to at least one of the guardians about this, and this was my best chance to do that without Dwayne present. "Volteer.." I began.

Volteer turned to me. "Yes Spyro?" He asked.

"Not to seem paranoid or anything, but I can't help but feel there's something a bit... off about Dwayne and Lisa." I said as we turned down another hallway.

Volteer raised an eyeridge. "Whatever do you mean?" He asked me.

I took a deep breath... "I don't know, it's just, the way they look for one thing, I've never seen dragons with fur before..." I said, figuring it was a good place to start.

Volteer chuckled. "Ah yes, I forgot you aren't as familiar with dragonkind as the rest of us. Dwayne and Lisa are clearly dragons from the eastern regions of the realms. They're known for their dark colored underbellies and horse like manes." Volteer explained.

Eastern regions? "There are other dragon civilizations?" I asked, wondering why they never mentioned this to me until now.

Volteer nodded. "Indeed, although we don't usually maintain communication with our brothers and sisters in the east, the only time we do is The Year of The Dragon, were they have their eggs hatched alongside our own." Volteer explained. Well that explains why I had never seen one before. "However, I fear there was quite a bit of animosity between us and the eastern dragons after the temple raid, they cut off all communication with us, blaming me and the other guardians for failing to protect their eggs." Volteer added with a hint of regret.

I couldn't get over it, a whole other civilization of dragons and I never knew about it. I wondered if they still blamed us western dragons for what happened to their eggs? Or if Dwayne and Lisa shared their people's animosity towards us? I didn't think so, Dwayne seemed to be friendly towards us, however he seemed more concerned about his sister than anything else.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

It never once stopped being weird, being **in** The Legend of Spyro, I had dreams about coming here more than a few times, but never thought for a second they'd become a reality. Dwayne didn't seem too thrilled about it, and made it very clear he wanted to get us back home as soon as he could. But I wouldn't mind staying for at least a little while, wasn't like there was much waiting for us back home after all.

Me and Dwayne were standing in a round room that Cynder had lead us to, the guardian's meeting quarters apparently. She said that we needed to wait here while Volteer got the other guardians. Me and him waited, alone in the large room, Cynder having gone off to meet with Spyro. "Lisa, you sure you're okay?" Dwayne asked me, breaking the silence.

I rolled my eyes. "For the fiftieth time Dwayne, yes I'm fine." I said. I swear, Dwayne was such a worry wart sometimes. I know he just wanted to keep me safe, but we were fine now.

Dwayne looked off into the distance. "It just doesn't make sense, of all people, why us?" Dwayne asked, I tilted my head, not sure what he meant. "Why did they pick us of all humans to abduct and turn into dragons? No offense but there isn't exactly anything special about us." Dwayne elaborated.

You know, he had a point, why us of all humans on earth? I suddenly felt a slight pressure in my head. Like something was trying to wiggle it's way out of my brain. "Lisa? You okay?" Dwayne asked, noticing my discomfort.

However, before I could answer the pressure turned to pain. An image flashing in my head, it was of a dragon who looked weirdly like me and Dwayne's dragon forms, he was chained to a stone floor, his face calm and peaceful like he was meditating.

"Lisa! LISA!" Dwayne shouted, shaking me out of my... vision? The pain left and I saw the panicked expression on my older brother's face. "I... I'm okay..." I said. A little frightened from what I had just seen.

* * *

Lisa seemed to have zoned out for a second there, like she had ran out of battery life or something. Thankfully I was able to snap her out of it before I had to call an exorcist or something. Just then I heard the sounds of claws click clacking against the stone floors of the temple. I turned to see Volteer flanked by two other dragons. It was clearly Cyril and Terrador. And just like Volteer, they had a few differences from their video game counterparts.

Cyril's eyes were a bit more tired looking, and clearly had bits of frost on his scales. You could see his breath as if the room was below freezing. Otherwise he looked the same.

Terrador on the other hand, his musculature was far more well defined, and he had several scars decorating various parts of his body, from countless battles no doubt. He even had one over his left eye. He definitely looked battle hardened. He also towered over the other two guardians.

The three guardians all sat around what I assumed was supposed to be the Pool of Visions. I felt a bit uneasy having all three guardians staring at me and Lisa. "Volteer was right, they certainly are eastern dragons, no doubt about it." Cyril said. Eastern dragons? You mean like a Chinese dragon? I admit I hadn't gotten a good look at myself, but I'm pretty sure eastern dragons didn't have bat wings.

Perhaps it meant something different in the dragon realms? Who knows... "Yes but why would the mages bring them here? Surely if they needed dragons they would take one from Warfang?" Terrador asked. He then looked over to me and Lisa. "Dwayne, Lisa, if you overheard anything the mages said when they took you, it would be quite valuable to us." Terrador said.

I was about to say I didn't know anything when Lisa suddenly chimed in. "I... I think I just had a vision earlier." She said. A... a what?! Since when could she do **that**?!

Everyone in the room seemed quite interested and surprised by this. "Really? What did you see?" Terrador asked Lisa.

Lisa thought for a moment, trying to recall her "vision". "I saw... an older dragon that looked like us... he was trapped in some kind of dungeon. He had a chain around his neck... Th... that's all I saw before Dwayne snapped me out of it." Lisa explained, so that's what was happening when she zoned out? I had never been so confused and terrified in my life.

The guardians all looked to one another. "What could it mean?" Volteer asked. Uhh... hello? My sister just had a psychic vision! Stop acting like this is normal! This is **not** normal! "Perhaps that dragon was trying to contact Lisa?" Terrador theorized.

Okay I've had enough! "HOLD ON! What do you mean you had a "vision"?" I asked Lisa, she instantly got skittish, like I was scolding her or something.

"Some dragons have the ability to see visions Dwayne, it appears that your younger sister is one of those dragons." Terrador explained. But... that's impossible... we're not really dragons! How can she have dragon super powers if she's not really a dragon? "I take it from your reaction that this hasn't happened before?" Terrador asked me.

I turned my head towards the earth guardian. "No... not really." I said. This was starting to make less and less sense as time went on, first these magic dudes abduct us from our world and turn us into dragons, and just to make it extra stupid, they gave my sister the ability to see psychic visions?! WHY?! That's a horrible plan! What's next? I'm going to be able to shoot laser beams out of my eyes?! Telepathy perhaps?! This whole thing makes NO sense! At all! GAAAGH!

Volteer motioned for Lisa to come closer. "Lisa, I want you to look into the pool for me." He asked her, Lisa reluctantly complied. She looked into the water, until she regained that trance she was in earlier. "Very good, now, I want you to describe to us what you see, the location I mean.." Volteer then instructed.

Lisa paused for a moment. It kinda looks like a castle... it's kinda dark... this is so hard.." Lisa said, clearly struggling to maintain the image she was examining.

Terrador moved his head in closer to Lisa's "You're doing fine Lisa, is there anything else you see there? A window perhaps?" Terrador said. Lisa concentrated silently, I could tell how hard it was for her to maintain her vision, the struggle was written clearly on her face.

Lisa's eyes then widened. "Wait! S.. someone entered the room! I can't tell who it is though, they're wearing some kind of robe thing..." Lisa explained.

The guardians all seemed to know exactly what this meant, good cause I was completely lost. "The dragon is being held by the dark mages." Terrador said. Oh that's nice, as if the mage's motives weren't confusing enough already! They already HAD a dragon! What did they need us for? In case they broke this one?

Volteer looked to his fellow guardians. "Clearly this dragon is trying to acquire our assistance through Lisa." Volteer said.

Cyril groaned. "As much as I hate to say it, Volteer may be right. Who knows what those heatans are doing to that poor dragon." Cyril agreed.

Terrador nodded. "Besides, he may know what the dark mages are truly planning." Terrador said.

Spyro then stepped forward. "So we should go rescue him!" Spyro said, however Terrador shook his head. "In good time Spyro, it's not wise to rush in. We should wait until sunrise, besides, I think Lisa could use some rest. You may need her help in finding that dragon." Terrador said.

Uhh... how about my sister **doesn't** go on the extremely dangerous rescue mission? There were evil wizards there! Evil wizards with zombie dragons! Man that's a sentence I never thought I'd say... there was no way I was going to let her go! "Forget it! My sister's not going anywhere near those wacko mages!" I protested.

Terrador shot me a stern look. "Dwayne, I would not put her in harms way if it weren't necessary. But she is the only one who knows of this dragon's appearance." Terrador said.

I wasn't backing down! No way! This was my sister! She couldn't fight! Hell I had to do the fighting for her back home! "She can't fight! She'll be helpless out there!" I said.

However it was very **very** clear that Terrador wasn't going to back down either. "Dwayne, you're way out of line! I understand you fear for your sister's safety, but we have no other option! You may come along as well if you wish, but she **will** accompany Spyro and Cynder regardless of your choice. Is that clear?" Terrador said, practically staring into my soul.

I wasn't going to win, I could tell, Terrador had made up his mind. "Fine... we'll go." I said in defeat. I wanted to at least be there to make sure she was safe, I didn't doubt that Spyro and Cynder would let her get hurt, but I wanted to be 100% sure she'd still be alive by the end of this.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I grunted as I broke my link to the girl. It was very difficult to maintain mental contact with how low my mana was. But at least now they were aware of me.

All the while I kept wondering how they could have found them... I thought I had hidden them! Kept them safe... but I was a fool to think it would have worked forever... forgive me Chara, I tried... I tried...

The mage in the room shoved a plate of food in front of me, being careful to move before I could rip his damn arms off. "Don't think I don't know what you just did dragon. You contacted one of them didn't you?" The mage questioned, clearly not the same one that was in here earlier, as this one was male.

I said nothing, I had no words for these heathens... I just gave him a dirty look before he sneered and left. He may laugh now, but once I'm free... I'm not leaving a single one of you bastards alive...

* * *

**A/N- Holey random psychic visions Batman!**

**I can see the comments coming from a mile away, so let's just cut out the middle man and address this now...**

"**FOOWD YOU TYPO HAPPY FREAK!" You cry, scaring the crap out of me and making me spill my Dr. Pepper all over the floor "Why does Lisa have the ability to see visions? You're not making a Mary Sue character are you? Cause that's gonna get you a paddlin' by a very large man named Shirley!"**

**First of all, I needed a way to make them aware of Blaze okay? Sue me.**

**Second, if you people knew me, you'd know I'd sooner jump into a nuclear reactor in my underpants than make a Mary Sue character. Mary Sues are boring and no fun to write, and I have an unhealthy hatred of them. (You can thank the Resident Evil movies for that, oh come on! Alice is SO a Mary Sue!) So you can tell Shirley to take his paddle and go home!**

**Dwayne and Lisa are supposed to be normal fire dragons. I did the vision thing because it was already an established part of the Legend of Spyro mythos and seemed like the least Mary Sueish way to do it.**


	4. To Save the Dragon from the Damsel

**Chapter 4: To Save the Dragon from the Damsel**

* * *

Being the new dragons in town clearly had it's disadvantages, the biggest one being we had nowhere to sleep. And the dragon temple wasn't exactly a bed and breakfast. However we wouldn't have to sleep on the streets as Spyro was more than happy to let us stay at his place while we were here, why he was so willing to allow two strangers he only met a few hours ago into his house I'll never know. But hey, best not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Are you sure it's okay for me and Lisa to stay at your place Spyro?" I asked him as we walked through the streets of the dragon city.

Spyro chuckled, "For the hundredth time Dwayne it's not a problem, it's usually just me, Sparx, and sometimes Cynder there, it'd be nice to have company for a change." Spyro said.

I then noticed Spyro was leading us outside the city. "Uhh... Spyro, the city's back there." I pointed out, thinking he hadn't been paying attention and left the city unintentionally.

However Spyro just laughed. "I know, there wasn't exactly any free homes in the city, since they were all either taken, or destroyed in the war. So I live outside the city." Spyro explained. Well didn't I feel stupid, of course there wasn't going to be much for homes in Warfang after it was torn to pieces in the war.

We finally arrived at what I assumed was Spyro's house, or rather, cabin. It wasn't really too impressive, just a simple log cabin with a purple cloth in the doorway, I guess in the dragon realms doors were for chumps. I bet it wasn't much for stopping burglars, but then again who was stupid enough to try to steal from The Purple Dragon of Legend? Someone looking for a very creative and interesting suicide that's who.

Me and Lisa followed Spyro inside. The inside was very basic, a few pillows were scattered along the floor, a small fire place made from stone, and some kind of thing full of water which I assumed was for drinking, god I hope it was, because my other theory of what it could be was far less... sanitary.

I noticed Spyro walking up to what I had at first thought was a lantern, however Spyro began to swat at it. "Sparx... SPARX! Wake up!" Spyro said.

"Not now mommy, a few more minutes? I don't wanna go to school today..." Sparx said tiredly. To which Spyro rolled his eyes. He then shook the little container thing probably scaring the crap out of the little dragonfly. "AAAH! I'm awake! I'M AWAKE!" Sparx said as he zipped out of the container and around the cabin in a panic.

Me and Lisa couldn't help but laugh, which Sparx picked up on pretty quickly. "And who are you two bozos? Weirdest lookin' dragons I've ever seen." Sparx said dryly.

Spyro came up to us. "Sparx this is Dwayne and Lisa, two dragons from the eastern regions. They're gonna be staying with us for a while." Spyro explained to his foster brother.

Sparx gave a surprised and confused look, looking at me and Lisa then back to Spyro. "Don't I get a say in this?" Sparx asked.

"Nope." Spyro said simply before walking off. To which Sparx groaned and fluttered back to his little lantern thingy. What the hell was that anyway? Ah it's not important.

* * *

_**Later...**_

* * *

"You don't know how to use your breath elements?!" Spyro said, completely floored that neither me nor Lisa knew how to use breath magic. Sparx laughing hysterically at this little factoid. Me and Spyro had been talking for a bit about this whole situation, Lisa having passed out not too long ago due to her vision taking quite a bit out of her.

I wasn't going to lie, I was a bit embarrassed. But I couldn't lie to him, not about this at least. It was a tad important. "We never really learned." I admitted.

Spyro tilted his head, "How come? Didn't the eastern guardians or at least your parents teach you?" He asked me, of course he had to make this awkward didn't he?

"Me and Lisa never knew our parents." I confessed. I saw Spyro grow quite uncomfortable at this revelation.

It was clear he regretted saying what he said now. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." Spyro apologized.

I just sat there, looking at my sleeping sister. "Me and Lisa only really ever had each other... that's why I'm so protective... as far as I know, she's the only family I have." I explained. I kept thinking back to all the times I've had to stick up for her back at the orphanage, to be the strong big brother for her, but now I felt so powerless, everything in this world could easily kick my ass, how could I protect her?

"Dwayne, you don't need to worry about Lisa, me and Cynder won't let anything happen to her. I promise you that." Spyro said as if he could read my mind or something.

I nodded. "I know, but me being the overprotective big brother, I can't help but worry." I said. I knew that I should trust Spyro more, he was the good guy after all, but I guess I always had to carry that air of skepticism. That nagging little doubt in the back of my mind.

Spyro cracked a little smile. "Trust me, I know all about having to be the protective big brother." Spyro said, clearly trying to lighten the mood at Sparx's expense..

Sparx flew right up to Spyro's face. "What's **that** supposed to mean?" Sparx asked indignantly.

Spyro laughed. "I dunno Sparx, I do recall me having to save a little loudmouth dragonfly from becoming a lantern..." Spyro teased. Me unable to stop myself from snickering.

Sparx however wasn't so amused. "Hey I save your butt all the time... most of the time... sometimes... kinda..." Sparx said before slumping down in defeat.

Spyro finally managed to stop laughing long enough to talk. "I think we should get some sleep, I'm sure you've had quite the day, and it's better if we're all well rested considering what we have to do tomorrow." Said Spyro before walking over to one of the many pillows on the floor and laying down on it. He was right, more so than he knew, I **had** had quite a day, having my body twisted and morphed into a dragon form, being carried all the way to Warfang by two bickering cheetah brothers, and tomorrow we set out to find the dragon from Lisa's vision. Sleep sounded **awesome** right now.

Sparx flew by my head with a loud yawn. "You'll get no argument from me... ol' Sparx needs his beauty sleep..." Sparx said as he flew into his little lantern thing. I don't think I'm ever going to find out the story behind that thing am I?

I decided to take one of the remaining pillows as my own, figuring out how to lay down comfortably as a quadruped was a bit of an effort, but I managed it. I closed my eyes, trying my best to relax given the stressful situation I was in.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Rikor had told me about Blaze contacting the siblings. I had to inform our mentor at once! No doubt they'd be coming our way soon. "Are you sure he contacted them? How?" I asked Rikor as we rounded the next corner.

"I know a dragon sending another a vision when I see it, it won't be long before they arrive on our front door. No doubt our mentor will reward me for my vigilance." Rikor said with his usual confidence, he was such an arrogant little twerp sometimes I swear...

We finally entered the main room, where our mentor resided, she was a rather plump creature, although her robes did their best to hide it, her dark, gray blue face a bit wrinkled with age, and popped out from the fancy white collar adorned to her neck. No one really knew her true name for she never once gave it, most just called her by what she was...

The Sorceress.

She turned to us with an indignant look. "This had better be important." She snarled. She wasn't one who took kindly to being disturbed.

Me and Rikor both bowed to our mentor. "Forgive us Sorceress, but we have grave news." I explained, bracing for one of her signature outbursts if one were to come our way.

The Sorceress raised a curious eyebrow. "Oh? And what, may I ask, is this "grave news" you wish to tell me?" She asked coldly.

I heard Rikor gulp. "The dragon you have in captivity, he has sent a vision to the two children Sorceress, I fear their arrival here is... inevitable." Rikor said, he may have been an arrogant twat, but when face to face with The Sorceress, his confidence never failed to shatter like glass.

I saw The Sorceress' face scrunch up in anger. I felt my heart quicken it's pace in fear she would strike Rikor down with her magic. However she quickly calmed herself. "Fine, if they wish to try to rescue the foolish fire dragon then so be it. I'll soon have what I need to keep our magic power going forever... why not allow them to... deliver themselves to me like a present? Rikor, stand guard near the dragon, I don't want them making off with him..." She ordered Rikor, who nodded and scurried off to do just that.

The Sorceress then turned her attention to me. "And you... make sure when our... "guests" arrive, that you are there to great them. Wait out there all night and day if you must... but just make sure they don't get past you when and if they arrive..." She ordered me with a smirk.

I nodded. "As you wish Sorceress." I said before going off to do as I was told...

* * *

_**The Next Day...**_

* * *

_**KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!**_

Narrgh! I don't wanna wake up! Leave me alone whoever is knocking on Spyro's... door? Wall? Whatever... go away...

_**KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!**_

Whoever it was that was knocking apparently wasn't willing to give up. I slowly got to my feet, sadly I was the only one up, how the hell **anyone** could sleep with all that knocking was beyond me. I groggily walked towards the front door, I moved the cloth to see who else but Cynder.

However, she wasn't alone. "Apparently your cheetah friends found out about our rescue mission." Cynder said, motioning towards Taven and Darius, Taven waving to me before being elbowed by Darius.

"Taven? Darius?" I said half awake. Why did they want to come along? And why did they feel the need to wake me up for this? Whatever, I guess sleeping wasn't a thing that was going to happen now... gurgh...

* * *

_**Later...**_

* * *

"I told Taven not to snoop, but he was so curious as to what you were discussing, he eavesdropped on your conversation with the guardians last night, and now he wants to join you on your mission." Darius finished explaining to us. H...he was what now?! DUDE! How did I not notice him? Someone like Taven couldn't be known for being stealthy.

Spyro and Cynder both looked at each other. "I don't know Spyro, we don't know anything about these two..." Cynder said to Spyro.

Taven gave an indignant look. "You don't know much of Dwayne and Lisa either but you allow them to accompany you!" He pointed out, downright offended by Cynder's statement.

"Yeah, but they **have** to come. Lisa is the only one who knows what the dragon looks like, and Dwayne won't let her come unless he comes as well. What's **your** excuse?" Cynder snapped back. The two just glared at each other after that, I kept expecting them to come to blows any second.

Spyro finally decided to step in. "Come on guys, let's not fight." He said before turning to Taven and Darius. "I don't know, it's not exactly going to be a very safe journey." Spyro said to the two brothers.

However Taven waved it off. "What do you take me for purple dragon? A defenseless cub? I'll have you know I'm one of the best swordsmen in the cheetah village!" Taven said proudly as he showed off his sword.

Darius rolled his eyes. "And the most modest..." He said sarcastically, earning a few laughs from everyone but Taven, who grumpily put his sword back in it's sheath.

Spyro thought it over for a moment. "Alright, you guys can come along." Spyro said, Cynder did a double take as if Spyro had just said the sky was made of cheese. Spyro noticed this quickly. "They just want to help Cynder, and besides, who knows what's waiting for us at the dark mage's stronghold, we could use all the help we can get." Spyro told Cynder, who tried to argue but quickly gave up.

Taven lit up upon hearing Spyro's approval. "Excellent! Let us not waste time then!" Taven said, going for the door before being stopped by his brother.

"Settle down brother." He said before turning to Spyro. "Are we prepared for the journey?" Darius asked the purple dragon. You know, that was a good question. **Were** we prepared? Did we even know where we were going? All Lisa saw was the inside of the dungeon that dragon was in, probably would have helped if Mr. Fire Dragon had sent her a mental road map to where he was instead. But whatever, I guess everything had to be cryptic and frustrating.

Spyro thought it over for a minute. "I think so, except, we might need a map." Spyro said. Please tell me the dark mage's evil doom castle isn't actually marked on a map, because that would be ridiculously stupid if it was...

Taven quickly reached into his satchel, pulling out an old, worn map. "I never leave the village without it." He said, well at least he was prepared. And with that, we set off on our incredibly stupid journey, maybe while we were there I could finally find out why me and Lisa were brought here in the first place...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I laid upon the stone floor of the dungeon. Hoping that the children would find allies and come to my aid... I pondered to myself if I'd done the right thing, because I could have just as easily delivered them into The Sorceress' hands.

I was pulled from my thoughts when one of the mages came in. A smug grin upon his face. "You shouldn't have contacted them dragon, for when they come for you, we'll be ready for them, perhaps they'll join you here in this stone prison?" The mage taunted me.

I growled at him. "Do not underestimate them mage, never underestimate a dragon." I warned him. I had confidence they would succeed...

However the mage just chuckled arrogantly. "I think we can handle a pair of kids." He said with a sickening confidence... how I wish I could use my fire breath to roast his pompous ass alive. However I would have to wait for that... I couldn't help but grin at the idea...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

We trekked through the forest for what felt like hours. Man this "quest" was a lot less exciting than I thought it would be. "Do you even know where we're going Taven?" Darius asked his brother, who was following his map.

Taven looked from the Map. "I made this map myself during my many travels through the woods, and it just so happened I had the mage's stronghold marked upon it." Taven said. Oh that made me feel better, he **made** the map we were trusting to take us to the mage's stronghold.

Darius seemed to share my sentiment, as he gave Taven a dry look. "Oh, that's reassuring, a map of **your** creation is what guides us through this forest full of creatures very capable of killing us all." Darius said sarcastically.

Spyro gave Darius a stern look. "It's the best we have Darius, better then going in blind." Spyro pointed out. Darius just simply rolling his eyes.

"According to my map it should be just up ahead!" Taven said proudly. If this leads us to a giant rock I swear I'm going to bash his face into it...

However fantasizing about using rock smash on Taven would have to wait, as a giant shadow passed over us. "W...what was that?" I asked. Everyone fell silent, I could hear the faint sounds of wing beats in the distance.

"Husks..." Darius said under his breath. Suddenly a giant dragon landed ring in front of us, I think it used to be an ice dragon judging by it's color, although it's scales had long since lost their sheen, as they were more of a steel gray color than blue now, it's eyes were pure white and sunken in like it hadn't slept in years. It smelt horrible, a nauseating pungent smell that made me gag when it assaulted my nostrils. It just stood there, silently. It didn't even moan like a zombie would, it was more like a ghost almost, watching us with those empty eyes.

"I should have known you two wouldn't come alone." A familiar voice said from a distance, suddenly a figure got off the undead dragon, landing softly on the grass, I instantly recognized her, it was the hooded girl I ran into in front of the game store! "YOU!" I said upon seeing her.

The girl chuckled. "Aww... you remembered me." She said so sickly sweet I almost gagged.

Taven then stepped forward, sword drawn. "Who are you?!" He demanded. The girl then laughed as she reached for her hood to remove it.

When the hood fell down, revealing her face, she was a... rabbit? Yeah, she was a cream colored rabbit, with a tuft of hair poking from her head like bangs, her ears drooped down behind her head like hair, she had two ice blue eyes and a pink nose.

So... I was yoinked from my world and transformed into a dragon... by a bunny? When did my life get so weird? And when can it be normal again?"I am Bianca, one of The Sorceress' apprentices, and I'm here to make sure you don't get to Blaze." She said. Oh man... I'm gonna get my ass kicked by a bunny aren't I? Man this is going to be humiliating...

* * *

**A/N- Looks like we're heading into a rumble folks! Will our heroes be able to defeat Bianca and save Blaze? Or will Dwayne, in fact, get his ass kicked by a bunny?**

**Yes, we're using A Legend version of The Sorceress from Spyro: Year of the Dragon in this story kids, this was actually a suggestion from Draconic Starblade. I wanted to go along with it because when it comes to Classic Spyro villains used in Legend of Spyro fics, everyone, EVERYONE goes with Red (Even I did in A Tale of Four Friends). I figured it'd be a nice change up to go with someone else for once, and who better than the deranged dino hippo thing that wants to use baby dragons to make herself immortal? (It happens)**

**What could possibly go right? Blurrgh...**


	5. The Truth Will Set You Free

**Chapter 5: The Truth Will Set You Free**

* * *

Taven was the first to attack, his sword held high as he charged at the rabbit girl. However with one motion of her hand Bianca disarmed the cheetah, and with another blast of magic knocked him back sending him skidding across the grass. "Next." She said dryly.

Cynder and Spyro both sprang into action, they both shot their breath elements, Spyro firing his electric breath, and Cynder going for a poison shot. Bianca reacted quickly, crafting a magic shield and deflecting their attacks. She then fired another blast of magic at Cynder, hitting her flush and knocking her into a nearby tree with a painful thud.

Spyro rushed her, managing to get her with a powerful headbutt to her jaw. However she nimbly righted herself before she could hit the ground. Bianca then caught Spyro off guard with a magic bolt to the face sending him crashing down to the ground.

"Dwayne... wh... what do we do?" Lisa asked me, clearly afraid for our new friends. I thought it over for a minute, before deciding on my next action. "Lisa, get behind Darius..." I told her. Lisa tilted her head. "Just do it!" I ordered. Lisa complied and I turned towards the rabbit mage. I lowered my head and got set to charge her like a bull.

I charged as fast as my legs would allow, looking to mow her down like a freight train. I hoped I would catch her off guard with her focused on Spyro.

No such luck I'm afraid, she saw me coming and with one swift motion dodged my charge attempt and managed to grab me by the horn, pinning me to the grass with her knee. God I suck! "Really Dwayne? You seriously thought you could fight me? You haven't even been a dragon for more than a few hours!" Bianca taunted me.

Spyro raised an eyebrow. "What does she mean by that?" He asked me... oh no... Bianca was gonna reveal my secret wasn't she? And then Spyro and friends would hate my guts for lying to them, and we'd go to that part of the movie where everyone shuns me for being dishonest...

Bianca seemed surprised by the purple dragon's question. "He doesn't know?! Why Dwayne, have you been _lying_ to the purple dragon?" She said, there's no way I'm going to be able to talk my way out of this one, Bianca was clearly intent on telling Spyro I was a human. "Dwayne and Lisa were brought here from another realm, the Human Realms to be specific, before I found them they were but simple humans in an orphanage. I turned them into dragons and brought them here for the sorceress." She explained.

Spyro was shocked to his core, I couldn't tell if he was pissed at me or not. I looked over to Cynder, it was clear **she** was pissed at me. Taven didn't know what to do with the information, and Darius remained unchanged, still guarding Lisa. "I... Is that true?" Spyro asked me. "I.." I squeaked. "TELL ME!" Spyro snapped.

There was no use in lying anymore, cause all it would do was make things even worse when I did eventually have to reveal my true origins. "Yes... it's true..." I confessed. Unable to bring myself to look Spyro in the face I felt so ashamed. I heard Bianca laugh as she got off me, knowing that I was too racked with guilt to fight. What was I thinking? How could I lie like that? Why didn't I just tell them the truth at the outset?

"Of course... that's not the whole story." Bianca said suddenly. What did she mean by that? O... of course that was the whole story! Me and Lisa were humans Bianca kidnapped, turned into dragons, and dropped into Spyro land. What more was there? Bianca saw my confusion. "Oh come now Dwayne, didn't you ever once wonder **why** I chose you and your sister of all people? Why it was you two resembled the dragons of the eastern regions? Why that dragon contacted you two of all dragons in the realms?" She inquired.

I had no clue where she was going with this... but I didn't like it... not at all. "You were never really humans Dwayne... the form you and your sister take now? They are your **true** forms. You and Lisa had been living a lie your whole lives and you didn't even know it..." She revealed. Her words echoed over and over in my head. No... it couldn't be true! She was lying to me!

"The Sorceress needs you eastern dragons to power our magic, it is a little known fact that eastern dragons carry a great amount of magic energy within them. That's why she sent me to return you home... so we could harness your magic energy and use to power our own!" Bianca added.

I refused to believe it, we were humans! HUMANS! I knew who I was! She was just trying to play head games with me. Trying to break my spirit! There's no way what she was saying could possibly be true! It just couldn't!

Bianca picked me up by the mane, "I'm sure after finding out the truth about these two, you won't mind if I take them off your hands... will you purple dragon?" Bianca asked Spyro. I was so screwed wasn't I? No way was Spyro gonna help me after I lied to him like I did.

Spyro sat there, staring at me blankly. He was pretty hard to read, I couldn't tell if he was seriously considering letting Bianca take me and Lisa or not. Spyro then grew a determined look. "Actually... I do." He said. Shocking me, Bianca, and Cynder with his answer. "They may have lied to us, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you take them!" Spyro said before shooting a rock shot right into Bianca's face, knocking her out like a light.

Spyro walked up to me, he clearly wasn't happy with me given the expression on his face... "Why Dwayne? Why did you lie to us?" He asked me. I could tell it was a bad idea not to answer, I could tell by his expression that he wanted answers.

I took a deep breath, "Because I knew if I told you the truth, you wouldn't trust us, I was so worried about Lisa I didn't want to risk you guys turning on us... I'm so sorry Spyro..." I said.

Cynder looked to Spyro. "We should just go... I don't think we can trust them anymore." Cynder said to Spyro. I looked away, unable to bring myself to look them in the eyes. I knew I messed up, they had no real reason to forgive me for what I did.

"I forgive you." Spyro suddenly said. He... what? Why?! I was completely floored. Given the look on Cynder's face she was too. "You were right, we probably wouldn't have helped you and Lisa if we had known what you really were, I don't blame you for what you did. You were just worried about your sister." Spyro elaborated.

I... my brain done broke. I guess as far as jerk things go lying about your species is a pretty minor offense all things considered. But still, why was he so quick to forgive me? I guess Spyro just isn't one to hold a grudge. "Besides, I want to know what she was talking about, when she said you weren't really humans." Spyro said.

Of course you had to bring **that** up didn't you? "It was just her trying to mess with my head... nothing more." I said, still quite unwilling to even consider that I wasn't really human.

"That could be, but I want to know for sure." Spyro insisted. Spyro then turned and walked off. "Come on, we should hurry before Bianca wakes up." Spyro added. Yeah that was probably a good idea...

* * *

_**Later...**_

* * *

It seemed as though the revelation that me and Lisa were humans hadn't rattled the group as much as I thought it did, in fact it seemed that Cynder was the only one who had any sort of grudge with us over it. Taven didn't seem to really care, but he was Taven, that's just how he was, and Darius, while he didn't like that we lied to him, liked the idea of us being the dark mage's new power source even less. I had no clue how Sparx felt about it, I guess he felt similarly to Spyro in that he was upset we lied to them, but was willing to look past it.

I meanwhile was still trying to cope with what Bianca had said to us. That we weren't really humans... I kept telling myself it was ridiculous, that it couldn't possibly be true, me and Lisa were just victims of dark magic. Two unlucky humans picked from a list of many to use as power sources. I knew who I was...

"Dwayne... is what Bianca said true? Are we really dragons?" Lisa asked me, frightened by the concept of us being less human than we thought.

I shook my head. "No, she was just trying to mess with us... I know it." I said rather bitterly.

Sparx suddenly flew up to us. "Ooo... that didn't sound too confident." Sparx commented. I looked away, not really in the mood for this. "I think someone's in denial..." Sparx continued to pester me.

"Sparx lay off, I'm sure they have enough to deal with right now without you laying into them." Spyro said, Sparx sighing and flying back over to his brother. I was relieved that Spyro had done that, I really didn't want to talk about what Bianca said right now. I just wanted to find this stupid dragon and go back home.

Soon enough we arrived at some kind of stone structure. "This is it." Taven said confidently, said confidence vanishing when he noticed a huge lock on the door.

Cynder stepped forward. "Good, let's just get this over with." She said rather bitterly before shooting the lock on the door with her poison breath, melting it like butter.

We all entered the dungeon. It was very dimly lit, I could barely see two feet in front of me. However we were suddenly stopped by Darius. "Wait... look." He whispered, pointing to a mage standing guard in front of what I assumed to be Lisa's dragon. He looked a lot like me and Lisa, except a lot older. He also looked like he had seen better days, his scales had lost a bit of their sheen, and his mane was a mess.

"I can handle this." Darius said before moving in, sneaking up to the mage like Solid Snake. He then suddenly got the mage in a sleeper hold, keeping it locked in until the mage lost consciousness.

Taven huffed. "Show off." He commented before we all decided to move in on the dragon. Spyro used his ice breath on the chains to weaken them before snapping them like a twix bar.

The dragon opened his golden eye, looking right at me and Lisa, he slowly rose up to his feet, a smile on his face. "You look so much like your mother..." He commented, referring to Lisa. W...what did he mean by that? The dragon noticed my panic and confusion. "I apologize, I should have figured you wouldn't know..." He said.

"Wh... what do you mean?" I asked, not really wanting an answer at this point.

The dragon sighed. "You were never really humans... I know you think you are but you aren't." He told me.

I shook my head. "No! You're wrong! I know what I am!" I yelled, not willing to listen to this anymore.

"No I'm not! I should know... I was the one who sent you there in the first place..." The dragon said. I couldn't even look at him, I didn't want it to be true, it couldn't be true!

Spyro stepped in. "Why? Why did you send them to the Human Realms?" Spyro asked him, realizing I was in no condition to ask myself.

The dragon looked off sadly to the side. "To protect them." He answered simply. It was growing harder and harder for me to deny that I wasn't human... I didn't want to believe him, would you? But I couldn't rationalize a good enough reason for him to be wrong!

Cynder then stepped forward. "Who are you then? Why did you of all dragons send them away?" Cynder asked.

The dragon paused... but then looked at me, his eyes watering slightly. "I'm their father." He answered. I completely broke at that point. He... he was our... father? But... that's impossible! It can't be! It just can't...

The dragon then walked over to me. "Son, I never meant to hurt you... I just wanted you and your sister to be safe." He said to me.

"How could you?!" I snapped. Absolutely livid right now. "Do you know, how long me and Lisa spent in that damn orphanage?! Thinking our parents just abandoned us? Left us for dead! I spent all those years living a lie! Why didn't you come for us?! Didn't you care? At all?!" I continued. Unable to fight the tears from escaping my eyes as I lashed out at my "father".

The dragon gave me an angry look. "OF COURSE I CARED!" He snapped, causing everyone to jump. "I didn't want to send you and your sister away, but I had no choice, between the mages and the dark armies both hunting young dragons down, I needed to hide you somewhere safe, somewhere were they couldn't get you. I loved you and your sister more than life itself, but I knew if I kept you here those heathens would find you eventually. Sending you to the human realms was the only way I could be certain you would be safe... but it turned out I was wrong..." He explained.

I stopped cold, unable to muster any form of response... "I know you're upset about what I did, and I don't blame you either, but do **not** tell me that I did not care about my own children! It was because I cared I did it in the first place..." The dragon added.

I was completely broken, it was hitting me all at once, I wasn't really human after all... all the pieces fit together too well for it not to be true... we had appeared at the orphanage seemingly out of nowhere with no names and no past. Bianca chose to abduct us because The Sorceress found out where dad had hidden us, Lisa had the ability to see visions because she was a dragon with that ability... it all fit so perfectly...

Lisa burst into tears and rushed over to the dragon who claimed to be our father, embracing him as tears ran down her face. The dragon nuzzled her. "There there, it's okay now... we're together again my child." He cooed as he did this.

* * *

_**Later...**_

* * *

We all left the dungeon after that. Me and Lisa both had very different reactions to what we had just learned in there. Lisa was happy to finally know her father after a lifetime of wondering who he was and why he left us she finally had her answer and she couldn't be happier.

However I wasn't so happy, my whole life had been a lie, a ruse to keep me and Lisa out of the hands of Malefor and The Sorceress. It was a lot to take in, I didn't know anything about myself anymore. I felt lost, confused, and small. Spyro walked over next to me. "Are you going to be okay?" He asked me.

I didn't even look at him, I just kept looking at the ground. "I don't know anymore..." I said truthfully. I kept hoping this was some cracked out nightmare and I'd wake up in my bed were everything made sense.

Spyro gave me a sympathetic look. "I know what it's like Dwayne, to learn you weren't really what you thought you were, I felt the same way when I found out I wasn't really a dragonfly. It'll pass, trust me." Spyro said.

"At least you had parents before then." I said, shooting Spyro's attempt to comfort me down like a fighter jet.

Spyro sighed, "Your sister is happy, isn't that worth something?" He pointed out. I looked ahead of me to see Lisa walking happily alongside dad, practically prancing like a horse in excitement, it was happier than I had ever really seen her before. And dad seemed to feel the same way, happy to see me and Lisa safe and sound.

I looked to Spyro. "I can't believe I never even questioned any of it... how me and Lisa just appeared out of nowhere, without names, pasts, or anything." I said to him.

Spyro nodded. "It's a lot to take in, don't worry, things will get better with time." Spyro reassured me. I sure hope so, for both our sake...

* * *

**A/N- Dwayne and Lisa were dragons all along?! WHAT A TWIST!**

**I bet you didn't see that one coming did you? (Okay you probably did because I'm about as subtle as a train wreck... on a boat. )**

**No this isn't something I came up with on the spot, Dwayne and Lisa being dragons all along was something Draconic Starblade and I had planned on from the start. (And by that I mean he suggested it and I ran with it. )**

**Where will this go from here? Well you'll just have to keep reading to find out now won't you? *Trollface* Problem?**


	6. Scars of the Past

**Chapter 6: Scars of the Past**

* * *

The walk back to Warfang was an awkward one for many reasons. Cynder was still very unwilling to talk to me and Lisa, I was still trying to let the fact I wasn't really human sink in, and dad was still very weak from being held captive by The Sorceress for so long.

When we finally reached the outer walls of the city dad stopped dead in his tracks. "What is it Blaze?" Spyro asked, just as confused about this as I was.

"I don't know how I feel about coming here, I don't exactly have fond memories of my last visit to Warfang." Dad explained. Knowing what I knew from the games I had a vague idea of what he meant by that.

However he did eventually come along into the city with the rest of us. The citizens of the city all stopped and stared at us, I guess they weren't used to us Easterners traipsing around their city...

Soon enough we came to the dragon temple, however I had noticed out of the corner of my eye that dad had an angry expression on his face. I would have asked him but I wasn't quite sure I wanted to be on speaking terms with him right now. I was still a bit bitter about him dumping me and Lisa at the orphanage.

We entered the temple, Spyro lead us to the guardian's chambers, where wouldn't you know it? All three guardians were right there waiting for us. "Ah Spyro, I see that your rescue mission was a success." Volteer greeted.

However I chanced another look at my father, he refused to make eye contact with the guardians for some reason. I waved it off as nothing and just sat in silence. "My, he looks to be in quite poor health, I think he may be in need of some medical attention." Volteer commented, dad was in pretty bad shape, The Sorceress clearly had made no effort at all to keep dad healthy.

"I'm fine." Dad said quite bitterly. Still refusing to make eye contact with the guardians.

Volteer was caught off guard by how cold dad was with his statement. "O...okay..." He said, backing away slowly.

* * *

_**Later...**_

* * *

So we ended up explaining the whole thing to the guardians, about how me and Lisa were humans at one point, but not really, the whole buisness with The Sorceress and Bianca, everything. Of course the guardians weren't to thrilled to learn me and Lisa flat out lied to them, but understood my reasons.

The whole time my father stayed silent, I don't know what his deal was, but he seemed to really hate the guardians for some reason. Even Lisa was starting to worry about this. The guardians weren't bad dragons, okay Cyril could be a bit of an arrogant jerk sometimes but he meant well. But with the way Dad was acting it was as if the guardians drowned his hamster or something.

"Well, it seems you all have learned quite a bit on your journey, but if The Sorceress was using Blaze to power her mages, then there's no doubt she will try to retrieve him, and possibly his children as well. I think it'd be best if they stayed in Warfang." Terrador said. I had no problems with that, I'd rather not have to dodge geeks with finger beams all day.

However I noticed that Dad really didn't like that. "No... me and my children are leaving for the eastern territories." He said sternly.

Terrador walked right up to dad. "That's suicide Blaze! You'd doom yourself and your children! It's best to stay here were it's safe." Terrador asserted. The two dragons then glared at one another like two boxers who were about to square off.

"I don't trust you westerners. Not after what happened the last time I left the safety of my children in your claws." Dad hissed at Terrador. I could hear a small growl coming from his throat.

"Don't bring that into this Blaze... this is a very different situation." Terrador warned him.

"Is it?! You westerners think because you have temples and walls means that your safe?! I remember that fool Ignitus had told me the same thing when I left Dwayne's egg in his care! And you remember how well that turned out.. If you expect me to put my children's lives in your care again you're mad! I won't lose the only family I have left to your incompetence..." Dad yelled, his voice echoing throughout the temple.

However Terrador was not one to back down. "And what do you plan on doing Blaze?! Flying them to the eastern territories? Malefor ravaged your kin's land years ago! There's nothing there! You'll be leading your children to their own destruction! And I will kill you myself before I allow you to throw Dwayne and Lisa's lives away so recklessly! You will stay in Warfang, or I will force you to! Is that clear?" Terrador boomed.

Dad and Terrador just glared at each other after that. Dad clearly had no love for the guardians. That much was very clear. Lisa then stepped in. "Dad, he's right, I think it'd be better if we stayed here." She said. Dad seemed to relent a bit when Lisa said this.

He sighed and looked to Terrador. "Alright, we'll stay, but know this guardian, I don't trust you, Cyril, or Volteer. If anything happens to my children, The Sorceress will be the least of your concerns." He warned Terrador before motioning us to come with him. I did so, only because he was already good and pissed, and me being difficult would only make it worse.

* * *

_**Later...**_

* * *

Dad led us to out behind the temple, there was a field there with a small lake. It was almost like a garden or something. "You two are probably wondering why I was so harsh with the guardians..." He began before we all laid on the grass. "We eastern dragons had been at odds with The Sorceress for years, she would have her minions raid our villages for our dragon eggs, taking our unborn children for unknown reasons. When your mother laid Dwayne's egg, we both feared the Sorceress would take him as well. However, talk soon arose about taking our eggs to the Western temple, where they would be protected. I was skeptical, but the fire guardian Ignitus convinced me Dwayne's egg would be safe and your mother insisted I should trust him. So I did." He began, looking sadly off to the side as he recalled the memory.

"However, soon I heard word the dark armies had found where the eggs were being hidden. Me and my fellow eastern dragons left for the western temple as fast as we could. Only to find those foul apes had already begun smashing the eggs, I barely managed to save Dwayne's egg before they could destroy it as well. We were outraged, our children casualties of **their** war! And worse yet, after the raid, the dark armies began attacking our village." He continued, not even trying to hide how angry he was over what had happened.

"Me and my fellow dragons were able to keep them at bay for a while, and soon enough Dwayne had hatched, healthy and safe within our village. Four years passed, and the attacks had stopped, your mother had laid Lisa's egg, and we thought all the danger was behind us... but then... The Sorceress made her move... she formed an alliance with the dark armies, she began having them picking dragons off for her to turn into her minions. Targeting expecting parents so she could take their eggs as well. Your mother and I soon found ourselves as targets because of this." He went on... I don't think I liked were this was going...

"They ambushed us one night. I tried to fight them off, but they just kept coming... one after the other... your mother died in the fight... trying to protect Dwayne... it was all because of them... they brought their war to our home, I almost lost my son, and lost my love. That is why I don't trust the guardians... they already cost me one loved one, I don't want them to cost me the only two I have left." He finished.

The idea of me never being able to meet my mother hit me pretty hard. Coupled with the fact she died trying to protect **me** didn't help. It made me feel like it was my fault... Between this and dad sending us away, I couldn't be around him right now, I needed time alone. So I got up and walked off. "Dwayne... where are you going?" Dad asked me as I did this.

I turned to him. "I... I need a minute..." I said trying my hardest to fight back the tears welling up in my eyes. My dad nodded, signaling that he understood and I walked off.

* * *

Dwayne just got up and left, he seemed to be angry with dad ever since we found him. I thought he'd be happy that we finally got to meet at least one of our parents. "Dad... what's wrong with Dwayne?" I asked him.

Dad sighed. "He's mad at me, and I don't blame him. I sent you two away into another world... he just needs time to sort things out in his mind." Dad said to me. It was weird finally having a father after being an orphan all my life... I just wish Dwayne could enjoy it too instead of being mad at dad for sending us away.

I could tell how bad dad felt about it too, given his expression. "I forgive you dad." I said hoping it would make him feel better.

He gave me a warm smile and a nuzzle. "Thank you Lisa." He said.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

"YOU IDIOTS!" Yelled The Sorceress, she had found out about out failure to capture Dwayne and Lisa, and worse that they had taken Blaze and with him our source of magic. And as you can see, she wasn't too happy about it.

"I gave you two **one** job! And you failed miserably! I should kick you both out right now!" The Sorceress continued to rant at us. I could even see a vein throbbing on her forehead! It probably wouldn't be long before she started to throw things.

"Forgive us Sorceress! But they outnumbered us! They had the purple dragon with them! He was too strong for a lowly apprentice like me!" I explained, hoping against all hope she wouldn't throw me out the door.

However her anger turned to intrigue. "The purple dragon?" She inquired.

"I tell the truth Sorceress, the purple dragon was with them, he knocked me out with his earth breath." I said, truthfully I didn't like admitting that last part, it wasn't exactly my finest moment. And probably didn't help improve The Sorceress' opinions of me.

However The Sorceress seemed bizarrely enthused about this news. "The purple dragon is said to have the strongest magic of any dragon in the realms! This of what we could do with such power! We'd be onto GODS!" She said.

Rikor then decided to speak "N... Not to damper your mood Sorceress, but... we cannot possibly hope to capture the purple dragon! Especially with such a limited supply of magical power now that they have taken Blaze from us." Rikor pointed out, I hope he wasn't too fond of his head, because I had a feeling The Sorceress was about to rip it off his shoulders.

The Sorceress gave Rikor a glare. "Do not tell me it cannot be done you oaf! That purple dragon could give us magic for eternity! You **will** take the purple dragon! And I **will** have that magic of his! Is that understood?" She growled.

"Y...yes Sorceress." I said hastily, preventing Rikor from digging us into a deeper hole. A Gesture he didn't take too fondly to.

"Good, Bianca I want you to go and make preparations for your trip to Warfang. Rikor, you stay here for a second, I have things I wish to discuss with you." She ordered me, I kinda worried over what she had planed for him, but I wasn't about to risk my own hide for disobeying a direct order, so I did as I was told and went to make preparations for my trip to Warfang.

* * *

I watched as Bianca left on The Sorceress' orders, "What is it you wish to discuss Sorceress?" I asked her. Hoping she wasn't planning on ending my life right here.

The Sorceress waited until she was sure Bianca was gone before she responded. "She doesn't know yet does she? Of my true intentions for Blaze's children and the purple dragon?" She asked me. I breathed a sigh of relief, for I knew what she meant.

"No... I haven't told her, just as you ordered." I replied. I knew better than to disobey the Sorceress. I saw what happened to the last mage that did so, the scorch mark from what's left of him was still on the floor.

"Good, I'm getting older Rikor, which means I need that immortality potion sooner and sooner as time passes. And you know the only way I can make it is if I have enough young dragon wings." The Sorceress explained to me. "And you know how much of a bleeding heart Bianca is, if she knew the truth she'd turn on us on the spot. And she's my best apprentice, so I cannot afford for that to happen." She added.

I nodded. "I understand Sorceress, I assure you, she will not find out." I promised her.

She gave me a stern look. "See that you do." She said. Getting **that** far with The Sorceress when it came to gratitude was an accomplishment if you knew her well enough.

The Sorceress had had me taking the wings off of the baby dragons we had been taking over the years for as long as I had been learning magic under her. At first it bothered me, but after a while I began to derive a sadistic pleasure from it. We almost had enough to complete the potion to give The Sorceress immortality. The purple dragon's wings surely would have enough dragon magic in them to complete the potion. And after being humiliated by the purple dragon and his friends, I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to plucking his wings like grapes from a vine...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I sat there in an empty room in the temple, I had no clue what it was for, but it was quiet, and empty, so it worked out for me. I couldn't believe all this time I had no clue I wasn't really human, you'd think I would have put two and two together eventually. But no, I was too stupid for that.

And now, I knew I'd never get to meet my mother... my mother who died to protect me. I couldn't find it in myself to hate the guardians for it like dad did, after all I knew Ignitus didn't exactly intend on Malefor's goons crashing in and smashing eggs like watermelons. No I couldn't shake the feeling it was my fault. They only targeted mom and dad because of me.

And what was up with The Sorceress anyway? Why did she want us so badly as to send her lacky to The Human Realms **just** to bring me back here? Maybe she was just crazy? Yeah... yeah that was probably it.

"Lost in thought are we?" I heard someone say from the distance. I turned to see Volteer had happened upon me. Dammit Volteer! I wanted to be alone! Go away! "You've learned quite a bit today haven't you young one?" He said, sitting down next to me.

I looked down at the floor. "More than I ever wanted to." I replied honestly.

Volteer sighed. "I can imagine, finding out you weren't of the species you had previously ascertained must be quite taxing on your young mind." Volteer said. You know Volteer, cheering me up would work a lot better if you didn't use all those big words... just saying. "But if I may interject, from what Spyro had told me, you weren't exactly in an ideal situation in the Human Realms either, were you?" He added.

Yeah thanks for that extra kick in the nuts! "I thought you were trying to make me feel better?" I asked him indignantly.

"I'm just saying, perhaps this revelation is better than you think it is?" Volteer said. I thought it over, he had a point, I had nothing back in the Human Realms, just Lisa and the clothes on my back, here I had friends, a father, a goddamn **father**. Something I had wanted for as long as I could remember. "I just wish your father wasn't so... angry with us." Volteer added, changing the subject.

I looked up at him. "Yeah, he told us what happened after we left the room earlier. He blames you guys for what happened to his-erm-our people's eggs." I explained.

Volteer nodded. "I know, believe me Dwayne that was a night we all wish never happened. But we cannot spend our lives grieving over the past if we wish to have a brighter future." Volteer said.

"Yeah I guess." I said, having a feeling he wasn't just referring to dad.

"You know, there isn't much left of the eastern dragon civilization. Malefor's armies had destroyed most of it while Spyro was frozen with Cynder in the later stages of the war. I hope that your father can find it in his heart to forgive us, so that we can all live here in harmony... there aren't many of us left you know, Malefor's forces had crippled the dragon race on both ends of the globe." Volteer said.

I couldn't disagree, I'd rather hang around here than what had to be a pile of smoldering rubble that dad wanted to take us back to. With how little in numbers both groups of dragons were reduced to, it was probably best to say screw it and just have everyone live here. But I knew dad wouldn't go for it, not unless he could find it in his heart to forgive them for what happened in the raid.

Oh well... I guess I'd just have to wait and hope...

* * *

**A/N- Holey exposition Batman!**

**I wanted to flesh out Blaze's past a bit more, and figured it'd make sense that he'd be at odds with the guardians after they botched the Year of the Dragon thing.**

**Sadly this made about 25% of the chapter exposition... go me.**


	7. A Day In Warfang

**Chapter 7: A Day in Warfang**

* * *

Soon day gave way to nightfall, dad insisted we spend the night in the temple gardens for the night, claiming as soon as we were done with The Sorceress that we would move into the eastern village. I didn't bother mentioning my conversation with Volteer to him, because I knew it'd just tick him off.

The night was an awkward one, between all I had learned today, and trying to comfortably lay on grass, it wasn't easy, but eventually I managed it...

* * *

_**Morning...**_

* * *

"Dwayne... DWAYNE!" Dad shouted waking me up, I looked to see it was barely daybreak, it had to be 5:00 in the morning at most! I went to go back to sleep, no sane person should be up at this hour. "Oh no you don't young dragon!" Dad said before I felt something very hot on my tail.

I looked to see dad was blowing hot air onto it. "OW! DUDE!" I cried as I sprang up. "What the hell?!" I cried, I'm pretty sure burning your son's tail qualified as child abuse!

Dad laughed. "Relax, I didn't use fire your tail will be fine. But you needed to be woken up." He said as if this wasn't the least bit messed up at all. Was this normal for dragons? God I hope not. "You and your sister need to learn to use your fire breath." He added.

I looked over to see Lisa was standing behind him, half awake. "Couldn't this wait 'till the sun was up?" I asked him, confused and upset that he woke me up at the crack of dawn for this.

Dad gave me a stern look. "No, now stop complaining." He said before ushering me and Lisa towards the temple. He lead us into the dragon dojo, or at least I assumed that's what it was supposed to be as I saw a few of those training dummies Spyro beat up in A New Beginning laying in a pile in the corner of the room. "These westerners, they do like to show off don't they?" Dad said referring to the architecture of the room.

Dad then turned to us. "Breath magic is an important skill every dragon must learn to utilize at some point in their lives. Our element as you may have guessed is fire." Dad began before I heard a soft blowing sound, I turned to see that Lisa was trying to use her fire breath. Dad shook his head. "That's not how it works Lisa, for if it did we dragons couldn't even speak without unleashing our breath attacks." Dad said, Lisa stopped and looked away embarrassed.

"No, breath magic must come consciously, you must search within yourself, find your inner fire, and let if flow through. Concentrate, you will find what you seek..." Dad told us. What the hell did **that** mean? I closed my eyes and tried to do what he asked me. But I couldn't find anything. "Dwayne, you cannot force it to come, it must come of it's own accord." Dad told me. "Clear your minds, let our ancestors show you the way, only then can you find your inner flame." Dad added.

I still had no clue what the hell that dragon was talking about, but he **was** the fire dragon here, so he knew more about this stuff than I did. So I did as he said, I emptied my mind, suddenly I felt something, a sort of heat in my chest. And before I could wonder what the hell it was fire spewed out of my mouth like a flame thrower. I almost fell on my ass I was so surprised by it. Dad grew a proud smile after the flames died down. "Very good Dwayne, you're a natural, just like your old man." He said with a wink.

However it seemed Lisa wasn't having as much luck, as all she managed to get was a small puff of smoke. "I can't do it!" Lisa said, frustrated at her inability to breath fire.

Dad approached Lisa. "Don't give up Lisa, elemental magic doesn't come as easily to some as it does to others, but in time you will master it." Dad said to her. "Keep trying Lisa, Dwayne, come along, I have more to show you." He said before we went to the other side of the room, leaving Lisa to try to find her own fire power.

Dad then stopped and looked at me. "There's far more we fire dragons can do than just simply blow it from our mouths... observe." Dad said before he shot a fire ball out of his mouth like a grenade launcher, said fire ball exploding upon impact. "If you can concentrate your fire into a single burst, you can do what I had just done, it's useful for taking out multiple enemies at once." Dad explained to me.

He then stepped back, giving me room to try it myself. Okay I can do this, just have to focus it in one-

_**BOOM!**_

Yeah... that hurt. It just up and exploded in my mouth! Knocking me back and singing the roof of my mouth. "Dwayne! Are you alright?!" Dad asked as he rushed over to me.

"No no... it was just my everything..." I groaned... I think my pride was hurt more than anything, that **had** to look downright hilarious to everyone else. Best part was I didn't even know what happened.

"You held it too long, you have to release it as soon as you form it or else it will explode in your mouth." Dad told me, you don't say? That would have been nice to know **before** I blew myself up!

Suddenly a very groggy and very irritated Cyril came into the dojo. I think even the bags under his eyes had bags... "What on earth is all this racket?! Some of us are trying to sleep here!" Cyril accosted us. Looks like someone started his morning with a bowl of crabby flakes...

Dad laughed. "You westerners are so soft. Did we interrupt your beauty sleep Ice Guardian?" Dad taunted Cyril.

Cyril didn't take too kindly to that. "It's the crack of dawn! No sane dragon should be up at this hour!" Cyril yelled. It was good to see I wasn't the only one who questioned why dad felt the need to wake us up before the sun to shoot fireballs.

"When I was Dwayne and Lisa's age my father had me up far earlier to train me in fire." Dad said quite proudly. May I ask why? Is sleep just overrated to us eastern dragons? "Perhaps if you didn't sleep in so much you'd get more done Cyril." Dad added matter-of-factly.

Cyril just huffed and walked back out, grumbling to himself the whole way. Dad unable to stop himself from laughing. "Keep practicing your fireball Dwayne..." He then told me.

"AAAAH!"

Me and Dad looked to see Cyril's tail was on fire! And Lisa had her paws cupped over her mouth like she had just said a curse word. Cyril frantically blew his ice breath onto his flaming extremity. "I'm sorry Cyril! I... I didn't mean to!" She said before Cyril finally managed to put the fire on his tail out.

This only served to make dad laugh even louder. "OH! You think that's funny do you? What are you? A hatchling?" Cyril snapped getting right in dad's face.

However another howl of laughter was heard from the other end of the room, I turned my head to see Terrador had walked in, unable to stop himself from chuckling at what had just happened. "Come now Cyril, you must admit, it was pretty funny." Terrador said in between snickers.

Cyril huffed. "It wasn't so funny from **my** end!" Cyril defended himself before giving Lisa a dirty look and leaving, grumbling as he did so.

Lisa looked at dad with a guilty expression. "Is Cyril mad at me dad?" She asked him. Well you did kinda light his tail on fire.

However Terrador butted in. "He'll get over it... don't you worry about him Lisa. To be quite honest I think you hurt his ego more than his tail." He reassured her with a small laugh. He then turned to dad. "Up a bit early for training aren't we?" He asked him.

Dad turned to the Earth Guardian. "The earlier you rise the more you can get done." he said simply.

Terrador nodded. "Indeed, how well are they coming along?" Terrador asked him, it was so weird seeing them actually make small talk after seeing them ready to come to blows yesterday.

Dad snorted. "Fine." He said, well at least **Terrador** was making small talk. Dad was still holding onto that grudge for all it was worth.

Terrador sighed. "Blaze, I don't blame you for holding us in ill regard after what happened. But I think it's time you let it go." He said.

Dad gave Terrador a sharp look. "Let it go?! How can I let it go?! It was **your** war you brought to **my** people!" Dad snapped, well if anyone was still sleeping in the temple they weren't anymore, thanks dad.

Terrador however kept his cool. "Blaze, you need to look at the facts here, your people are small in numbers, your homeland in ruins. I think it may be time for you to consider a reunion of our two groups." Terrador said.

Dad didn't like that idea at all, I could tell by how pissed he got. "I'd sooner die than entrust what's left of my people to **you**." Dad snarled. Okay, I got his mistrust in the Guardians and all, but come on, I didn't exactly want to live in a smoldering crater because of dad's blood feud.

Terrador shook his head. "Perhaps you'll change your mind in time. The young dragons of Warfang should be coming here shortly for training. I'm sure your children wouldn't mind spending time with dragons their age." Terrador pointed out before turning and walking away.

Hold up... I found a plot hole, didn't the all the other dragons my age kinda **die**? Or did other dragons manage to rescue their own eggs like dad did? I'll ask Spyro about it later. "Hmph... we'll see about that earth guardian." My dad sneered before motioning for me to continue practicing fire balls. Well I'm sure I'd get it eventually right?... right?... someone say right!

* * *

_**Later...**_

* * *

_**BOOM!**_

Dammit! How many times am I going to blow myself up before I get it right?! Hell even **Lisa** managed to get it right in the time I've wasted blowing my stupid ass up like a stick of dynamite. I just laid there on the temple floor, defeated. I suddenly saw Spyro loom over me. "Having trouble?" He asked me, unable to fight back a small chuckle.

I slowly got up off the ground. "I can't seem to get it! Every time I try to make a fireball it explodes in my face!" I said, frustrated at my inability to stop exploding. Man **that**'s a sentence I never thought I'd say!

"Well you're never going to get it if you keep getting frustrated like that." Spyro pointed out. You're not helping Spyro, you're really not.

I just remembered I wanted to ask Spyro about the other young dragons. "Hey Spyro, Terrador said other dragons our age would be coming here for training, I thought they all died in the temple raid?" I asked him.

Spyro turned to me. "Well they did, these dragons were born after the raid, some expecting parents were so upset about losing their eggs in the raid that they left to go into hiding and eventually laid new ones... they only showed up here after their parents had come out of hiding and moved back into the city." Spyro explained to me.

Well, that made sense, "Dwayne, what's your dad's problem with the guardians anyway? He doesn't exactly seem to get along with them too much." Spyro then asked me. So I explained to Spyro what dad told me yesterday. "But that wasn't their fault! There was no way they could have known that the dark armies would have found the temple!" Spyro said.

"Yeah well that's not how dad sees it." I said with a sigh. To be honest I really wish dad would get over his little grudge with the guardians. They messed up sure, but dad was acting like they meant for it to happen or something.

Suddenly we heard the soft click clacking of claws on the stone floors. Me and Spyro looked to see a small group of young dragons come in. I of course didn't recognize a single one. "Wow, I expected there to be a lot more." I commented.

"Unfortunately there aren't many dragons left after the war. Malefor's armies had really damaged our numbers, that's why Terrador wants the dragons of the east to join us in Warfang, so we can keep our species going." Spyro explained.

It was kinda depressing, knowing I was a part of a dying race. And I was more than willing to live here if it meant fixing that. But of course my dad was stubborn as a mule and refused to budge and inch. He must **really** hate the guardians if he's willing to risk our species over his grudge.

* * *

_**Meanwhile, outside of Warfang...**_

* * *

Why do I listen to him? All I need is for once to tell Taven no and we'd stop getting into trouble! But no, I choose to stay silent as he drags me to the dragon city to check on our new dragon friends. Honestly I think he just wants an excuse to leave the Cheetah Village. He never liked being there even when he was a cub he insisted on exploring the forests that surrounded it.

Then again Taven was pretty much an overgrown cub so that lack of change wasn't so surprising. "I'm sure Dwayne and Lisa are just fine Taven! You know how Chief Prowlus feels about you running around outside of the village without his knowledge!" I said to my younger brother.

Taven just groaned. "What Prowlus doesn't know won't hurt him Darius. Besides, Warfang is so much more exciting than that musty old village." Taven waved off as we reached the city gates. However I stopped cold when I saw who else was there.

It was Bianca! I stopped Taven and pointed her out to him when he went to object. "What's she doing here?" Taven asked me as if I had any clue.

"I have no idea, but we should keep an eye on her, doubtless she's up to no good." I told Taven as we silently followed the rabbit mage. She just walked right in through the front gate! The guards didn't even stop her! Granted, I doubted these city guards could point out a mage from just looking at them, but still...

Me and Taven tried not to act suspicious, we didn't want the Warfang guards to think we had ill intentions. We got into the city easily enough, however we soon lost Bianca in the crowded streets. "DAMMIT! She got away!" Taven cursed, kicking up dirt in frustration.

"It's alright brother, we can at least warn the dragons of her presence in the city." I suggested. This seemed to lift his spirits a little, however we didn't have much time to waste as we couldn't risk her getting there before we did.

* * *

_**Back at The Temple...**_

* * *

I didn't want to try to mingle with the other dragons, I was never really all that social even back when I was human. I guess you could say I was a bit shy. Lisa had no problems talking to the others, as I could see her mingling with a few other dragons. I decided to try my fireball one more time...

_**BOOM!**_

Why...? Why must I suffer? I heard laughter from the distance, I craned my head over to see a young fire dragon had witnessed my humiliating self detonation and found it pretty funny. "Oh keep laughing jackass! I bet you can't do better!" I said getting up.

The fire dragon then stopped, "Oh really? That a challenge?" He asked, cocking his head in confidence. Oh I don't think I like you... The fire dragon then set up to try his hand at shooting his own fireball...

_**BOOM!**_

He flew back fifty feet like he just got shot with a shotgun! The force sending him right into the wall. I burst out laughing. "I wasn't ready!" He insisted as he tried to get out of the hole. Uh-huh... suuure you weren't...

Soon Spyro and Cynder happened upon us. Cynder bursting out laughing seeing the fire dragon stuck in the wall. "Lemme guess, he tried to use a fireball?" Cynder asked me. I nodded, did they know this guy?

Apparently so as Spyro helped the fire dragon out of the hole. "You okay Flame?" Spyro asked him. The fire dragon, Flame I guess, looked himself over. "Yeah I'm fine." He said, his ego clearly bruised. Spyro then looked at me. "Dwayne, this is Flame, Flame this is Dwayne." Spyro introduced us.

Flame sorta snorted. "Dwayne? That's a weird name for a dragon." Flame commented, oh this was rich coming from the guy literally named after **fire**. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones...

"I know why **I'm **having trouble with fire, I just started learning today, what's his problem?" I asked Spyro. Flame shooting me a dirty look after I said this.

Spyro sighed. "We don't exactly have a fire guardian anymore since Ignitus died during the war... so I've been trying to teach him, and I'm apparently not as good a teacher as I thought." Spyro explained with a hint of embarrassment.

"I can do it!" Flame insisted before going to try again and blowing himself up again. Well at least he was determined... I'd give him that much... Cynder started laughing again. "Just give it up Flame, before you land yourself in the infirmary... again." Cynder said. Flame instantly shot up. "I don't get it! Why can't I do it?!" Flame said.

"Because you're holding it too long."

We all turned to see Dad had happened upon us. "Dwayne, Spyro, Cynder, you're needed in the guardian's chambers, Lisa will join you there, it's important." Dad then said to us. Me, Spyro, and Cynder all looked at each other before going off to see what it was the Guardians wanted with us.

I looked back to see Flame trying another fireball again. "Stop! You don't need to take **that** deep a breath, loosen it a little..." Dad coached him as we left.

* * *

_**Later...**_

* * *

We soon arrived at the Guardian's quarters. Surprisingly Taven and Darius were there too... what were they doing here? "What's this about?" Spyro asked as we closed the distance.

"These two claim to have seen a mage by the name of Bianca enter Warfang." Terrador said. Oh come on! Not Bianca again! What was her damage anyway? I guess the Sorceress was a little miffed we yoinked her magic supply. But in our defense, said magic supply was my **dad** so... yeah.

"Do you know where she is now?" Cynder asked Taven and Darius. But they both shook their heads. "We lost her in the crowd. So we went here to warn you of her presence." Darius explained.

"Wh... what do we do?" I asked, not really all too willing to face off with Bianca again after she easily kicked my ass last time. The fact I got beat up by a bunny rabbit still made me feel humiliated.

The guardians all looked at each other then back to me. "We wait for her to make her move, and when she does, we'll be ready for her." Terrador said. Oh that's great... we're gonna wait for the evil bunny mage to kick down the door and start shooting magic missiles at people, **then** we'll have her right were we want her! I hate my life... because I know me, Lisa, and Dad are the ones in her cross-hairs... why me?


	8. Taking Their Wings

**Chapter 8: Taking Their Wings**

* * *

The dragon temple, I had never been to it myself, in fact this was my first time ever in Warfang as a whole. But it was obvious this was the dragon temple. It was too obvious not to be. However I knew that going in alone was suicide. There was no way in hell I could take all of the dragons within that temple. And I doubted the dragons would give up the purple dragon without a fight. But I had a plan in place, I'd have backup... I just had to wait until the right moment to reveal them...

* * *

_**Meanwhile Inside...**_

* * *

Knowing Bianca was in Warfang was unsettling to put it simply. I highly doubted she'd come alone, she wasn't stupid, she knew if she tried that the guardians would pound her into the ground until she was just a red stain on the temple floor. No she'd have backup, but what form it would take was what worried me...

At least I knew how to use fire now, sorta, but having novice level fire ability was better than having none at all. I went back to the dojo to find something I really wasn't expecting. Right there in the center of the room stood my father, surrounded by a couple of young fire dragons. He seemed to be teaching them how to use their fire breath... odd considering dad didn't exactly hold the western dragons in high regard. "You can't force it to come young dragons, you must let it come to you... that is the key to mastering your fire abilities." He lectured them.

He then noticed that I had arrived. "Ah... Dwayne. Nice of you to join us." He said before turning to the other little fire dragons. "Keep practicing your basic fire abilities, I wish to speak to my son in privet for a moment." He said before walking over to me, motioning for me to follow him.

He led me into the gardens before stopping and turning to me. "What did the guardians discuss with you?" He asked me. What? They didn't tell him? Why not? I figured they would have.

Regardless it'd be best if I answered him. "Bianca was seen in Warfang... the guardians say she might attack the temple at some point and we're gonna wait until she does and kick her butt then." I explained. I saw dad's eyes fill with anger upon hearing this. "And they didn't feel the need to tell the rest of us?! There are **children** here! Surely that witch will take them for their wings..." Dad said, okay now I see why they didn't tell him now, I had pretty much accepted long ago that it didn't take much to set dad off, he had quite the temper to put it nicely.

Hold up... for their what now? "Why would she want their wings?" I asked, not entirely sure I wanted the answer. Whatever it was it couldn't be good I knew that much.

"In my time being imprisoned in The Sorceress' dungeon, I had learned the reason why she had been taking our children, the savage was having her apprentice Rikor cut their wings off their bodies for use in some kind of immortality potion." Dad explained... okay... that's messed up! She was actually having her flunkies chopping the wings off of baby dragons so she could make some immortality juice?! Oh my god! I knew The Sorceress was an evil psycho but come on!

"Wh.. why their wings?" I asked, looking at my own pair of wings and imagining The Sorceress sawing them off like some sadistic slasher movie villain. I think I fell sick...

"Dragons store quite a bit of our mana in our wings, adult dragon wings aren't so easy to extract though since our wing bones are too thick. However, young dragon wings are far simpler to remove since they're still developing." Dad explained. So that's why she was targeting kids? **Convenience**?! I didn't think severing kids wings for a magic McGuffin could get any more messed up but it just did. Apparently I wasn't hiding how uneasy this was making me very well as dad seemed to pick up on it. "I know, it's sickening isn't it? Barbaric even, however you have nothing to fear, I will fight to my dying breath to keep you and your sister out of the hands of that madwomen." Dad said trying to reassure me.

But how could I calm down?! The Sorceress wanted to hack off my wings like unruly branches on a hedge! And I had a feeling she didn't exactly patch the baby dragons up after she literally clipped their wings either! So yeah, after being de-winged I got the added fun of slowly bleeding to death for no added cost! What a horrible way to go! "Dwayne, stay here, I will try to convince the guardians to rethink their plans." Dad said before running off.

Stay here?! As if I wasn't afraid of Bianca before, now I knew that she wanted to take me to The Sorceress and hack my wings off! I was more scared than I had ever been in my life, you would be too if you were at risk of losing two things attached to your body so some evil sorceress could make an immortality potion she really didn't deserve to be quite frank.

I managed to pull myself from my panic to see Spyro and Sparx coming over to me, a worried expression on Spyro's face as he got closer. "Dwayne? You okay? You look like you're about to throw up." Spyro asked me.

"Well you would be too if you knew The Sorceress was gonna chop **your** wings off when Bianca takes you back to her evil doom castle." I said, my legs were shaking from the fear I felt right now.

Spyro gave me a look that said _"What the hell are you talking about you crazy dragon?" _So I told him what my dad told me about what The Sorceress had planned for me and Lisa when she finally got her mitts on us. Sparx looked like he was about to hurl. "Oh man! You mean she... with the wings... and the blood... and... oh, oh I think I'm gonna be sick..." Sparx stammered, looking quite queezy.

Spyro was just as horrified by this revelation, looking at his own wings with an uneasy look. He then looked back at me. "I see what you mean now... that's just... wrong." Spyro said, yeah I couldn't agree more. However Spyro's uneasiness quickly turned to determination. "We have to stop them! There are a lot of young dragons here, and I don't like the idea of any of them losing their wings **or** that psycho becoming immortal! Come on!" He said before running off, uhh... dad told me to stay here... crap you're not gonna wait up for me are you? I gave in and decided to follow, I just hope dad wouldn't roast me alive for this...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

"That is why we cannot allow Bianca anywhere near the temple! All of the young dragon's lives would be at risk!" I pleaded to the Guardians. They all seemed horrified by what I had told them about The Sorceress' true intentions. Any decent dragon would be.

Volteer looked to Terrador "Blaze may have a point Terrador, I don't think I want that mage anywhere **near** the young dragons knowing what she intends to do with them." Volteer said, well at least **he** had some sense...

"But if we go out and search the city for her, we would leave the temple vulnerable, Bianca could sneak in and take the young dragons while we are out searching for her." Terrador rebutted. I hated to admit it, but Terrador had a point, the mages were sneaky vermin, Bianca could go in, take the young ones and leave, us never even knowing until it was too late.

I looked to Terrador. "Then what do you suggest we do? Allow that madwoman to come in here and risk the safety of the children?" I asked, I didn't much care for the Guardians, but right now I cared far more about the safety of the children than my personal issues with the western dragons, I had no choice but to rely on them to help protect the young ones.

Terrador thought it over for a moment. "Cyril, gather the children and get them somewhere safe, guard them with your life." Terrador ordered Cyril, Cyril said nothing, he just went off to do as he was asked. "Volteer, I want you to go out into the city and search for that mage and any allies she may have with her." Terrador then ordered Volteer. Volteer nodded and flew off into the city to begin his search.

"And what about you and I?" I asked the earth guardian. Terrador approached me, and was soon face to face with me. "You and I are to make sure that if she does get in, she doesn't get far. I know you and I don't see eye to eye, but I also know you care just as much for the safety of these children as I do. So I trust you will fight with all you have to keep that maniac away from them." Terrador explained.

For once we could agree on something... I had no love for the guardians, but I had even less for The Sorceress, and I would be dammed if I let her take any more innocent children. "I will fight to my dying breath." I told him, Terrador seeming quite satisfied with my answer.

"Ahem... what about us?"

I turned to see the two cheetah brothers standing at the far end of the room, ancestors I forgot they were still here. Terrador decided to take care of this. "Go assist Cyril in gathering the children. I'm sure he could use a bit of help." Terrador said.

"You can count on us great Earth Guardian!" Taven said proudly, his brother face palming. Terrador rolled his eyes. "Just go." He said in annoyance, and with that, the two felines were off.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I had no idea what was happening, Cyril just up and started ushering all of us into another room, was Bianca already here?! I had no idea, Cyril wouldn't tell us anything, soon Taven and Darius came in and started helping Cyril round us all up. I knew I couldn't get anything out of Cyril, but I knew who I could get something out of.

I walked over to Taven "Taven what's going on?" I asked him. Taven knelt down so he was eye level with me. "Everything is alright Lisa, we just want to make sure you young dragons are safe in case Bianca does make it into the temple." Taven explained.

"Why do we have to hide?! I'm not scared of no stupid mage!" A young fire dragon suddenly protested.

However Cyril decided to step in. "You will hide Flame, and you will like it, or I will freeze you were you stand!" Cyril threatened, Flame backing down instantly... so much for not being afraid...

I looked over to the other dragons, they were all talking among themselves, scared and confused as to what was happening. Something else was going on here, why would they wait until now to hide us? And why hide the young dragons specifically? Wasn't it just me and Dwayne she was after? Wait... "Where's Dwayne?!" I asked, I looked around but I couldn't see him anywhere!

Cyril, Darius, and Taven all did the same, looking for any sign of my brother. "Dammit! I knew we were missing someone! Taven go see if you can find him! Me and Darius can handle things here." Cyril ordered Taven, who nodded and ran off to find my brother. I was worried, **really** worried, Dwayne wasn't one to hide, especially when **I** was in danger, knowing him he was probably off with Spyro and Cynder looking to take the fight to Bianca.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Me and Spyro had managed to find Cynder, we had filled her in on what The Sorceress was **really** up to, which of course she really didn't like, I could tell by the look she gave us she wanted to rip the Sorceress' head off and use it for soccer practice for doing what she was doing to the baby dragons.

Cynder turned to Spyro. "So, what's the plan? We find Bianca and beat her face to mush?" Cynder said, well I wouldn't exactly be so... violent about it, but I knew we'd have to fight Bianca in some fashion at least.

Spyro gave Cynder a small nod. "Yeah pretty much." Spyro said plainly. Oh good, we **had** no real plan, the direct approach **always** works so well doesn't it? But hey, not like I could come up with anything better, anyone who's seen me play an RTS game could tell you I was horrible at coming up with strategies, so the direct approach it is!

"Did I keep you waiting purple dragon?"

We all turned to see Bianca walking leisurely towards us. "You caused us quite a bit of trouble yesterday purple dragon... and I'm here to clean up the mess you made." She said.

Spyro stood right in her path. "Not on your life Bianca! I'm not going to let you take Dwayne and Lisa back to your sadistic master so she can take their wings!" Spyro said.

Bianca seemed bizarrely confused by this. As if this was the first time she had heard this. "What are you talking about?" She asked... she seriously doesn't know? How could she not know! Where did she think the baby dragons were going? Kindly old man Simmons' farm?

"You know exactly what we mean! How could you do that to such young dragons? Cutting their wings off so your master can live forever! It's downright barbaric!" Cynder snapped.

Bianca shook her head. "That's ridiculous, I see what your trying to do! You're lying to me so I'll turn on The Sorceress! I know she just wants you to capture you guys so she can power our magic! So you can give up the little charade!" Bianca said before bringing her hands up, said hands softly glowing. Before I could ask what the hell she was doing I got my answer...

A swarm of Husks suddenly flew overhead, there had to be a thousand of them! "Oh don't look so surprised! Did you really think I'd be stupid enough to come here alone?" Bianca said, you know, she was right, we really should have seen this coming... It was kinda stupid to think she'd actually try to Rambo her way into the temple alone.

However I was still stuck on the _"Bianca didn't know what the Sorceress was doing"_ part. How the hell does she not know?! She was totally in denial, I could tell, it was as if she really **really** didn't want it to be true, I had no clue why, I thought all mages regarded dragons the same way one would a cockroach.

However, regardless of her opinions on my kind, it was clear we were set for a brawl... and I think everyone in the temple was in for quite the fight as well given the horde of zombie dragons Bianca just sent into the temple...

And here I thought I'd finally get to rest for once... silly Dwayne, thinking you could actually not risk your life for once... you're never that lucky...

* * *

**A/N- Oh my... it seems as though we're gearing up for another battle! What will happen? Well you'll just have to wait until next chapter to find out folks...**


	9. Attack on the Temple

**Chapter 9: Attack on the Temple**

* * *

_**Boom!**_

Me and Terrador both stopped when we heard the sound... Bianca was making her move, I could feel it in my gut. And no sooner had that thought crossed my mind then suddenly the temple walls blasted open, revealing several husks who one by one funneled inside the temple like hornets. "Husks! We cannot let them get to the children!" Terrador said before we both sprang into action.

I unleashed a wave of fire at one, roasting it to cinders. However another one had managed to get me from behind, it's front legs had me in a sleeper hold, and another one rammed into my stomach with it's horns, knocking the wind out of my lungs. The husk then backed up for another charge, I managed to shake the cobwebs and managed to toss the husk that was holding me forward, hitting the other one flush.

Terrador's fight with the husks was far more graceful than my own, using his earth breath to force them out of the temple. I did my best to take out as many of the husks as I could, I had to keep them from getting too far into the temple. All it would take is but one to sneak past us to put the children in grave danger. "They just keep coming!" I shouted before shooting fireballs at the invaders.

Terrador kept on them, not letting one even get past the hole they made to get in. "We have to keep on them! They have to give out eventually!" Terrador said before one managed to catch him off guard with an ice attack, freezing him in place. "Dammit!" Terrador cursed as he tried to break free. Thinking quickly I grabbed one of the husks and slammed it into the ice that held the Earth Guardian in place, shattering it on impact and killing the husk as well. "Thanks." He said before he went right back into battle.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Where the hell was he?! I must have searched every inch of this temple but I still hadn't seen hide nor hair of Dwayne. I knew if I didn't find him Darius would never let me hear the end of it. And of course, I didn't like the idea of losing one of my newest friends either...

But this temple was so big, he could be anywhere! Come on Taven, think... were would you go if you were Dwayne?

I pondered this for a while, until suddenly the ceilings around me shattered like glass, several husks descending through them. "You have to be kidding me!" I said, drawing my sword, not completely sure if I could take the dragons or not, I've never had to fight one before, and there were so many of them! But I had to try at least... I couldn't risk any of them finding Dwayne before I did. The husks all noticed me in a heart beat, One of them shot a bolt of lightening right at me. I barely managed to dodge it, it was a good thing too, I don't think I would have survived the blast.

I stood up, my blade ready. "Alright you undead demons, prepare to return to death!" I exclaimed before charging at them, yelling a warrior's cry the whole way. I managed to cleave through the first undead dragon with ease. It's head plopping onto the stone floor with a thud. The next husk swiped at me with it's claws but I nimbly jumped out of the way and right up to it's face here I plunged my blade into it's skull.

However, my blade was now stuck in it's head, I pulled and pulled but couldn't manage to get it free, and another husk was set to take advantage of my compromised position. "Come on! Come on!" I said as I tried in desperation to free my sword.

_**CRACKATHOOM!**_

The approaching husk was blown in two by a powerful thunderbolt, sending it's decaying body parts crashing to the floor. I turned around to see Volteer approaching me. "That was quite a close call. Are you alright?" He asked me.

I finally managed to get my sword free from the husk's skull. "Yeah... I'm fine, but Dwayne is missing! I can't find him anywhere in the temple!" I told the Electric Guardian.

"Then we don't have much time, I'll take to the skies and see if I can locate him from above, you keep searching the ground level... hopefully we can find him before one of these abominations does." Volteer said before taking off to do just that.

I sheathed my sword and looked over the pile of dead husks on the floor. "Still better than being trapped in the Cheetah Village." I shrugged before running off to find Dwayne.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

You know, for a mage with no magic, she certainly had no trouble using it against us. No sooner had the fight started then Bianca had started throwing freaking Sith Lightening at us! I thought since we took dad away from her that she'd be running on empty as far as magic went. But nope, guess not cause she had no problems kicking our asses.

My lack of combat experience was quite a hindrance here, as 90% of the hits Bianca scored were on me. Spyro and Cynder on the other hand fought like clockwork, even when Bianca managed to score a lucky shot on them they were right back up in seconds, clearly this wasn't their first rodeo.

Bianca also seemed to know I was the weakest link as she threw most of her shots my way. I managed to barely dodge a few while getting steamrolled by others. By the by, being hit with magic is **not** a fun experience, sometimes it feels like being burned by metal on a hot summer's day, other times it feels like being punched by a pro boxer. It got so bad that Spyro and Cynder had been making it a point to position themselves near me to try to draw her fire away from me. God I suck at fighting!

Spyro rained several lightening shots at Bianca, who nimbly dodged each one, you know she was pretty nimble for a mage. She was doing back flips, butterfly twists, and she even once used my head as a springboard to dodge a poison shot from Cynder. Maybe it was a rabbit thing, or she was just naturally light on her feet. Who knows...

I blew my fire breath at her, which she just cartwheeled out of the way of, okay now you're just showing off! Who do you think you are? Catwoman? Bianca then managed to once again lay me out with another magic missile. That had to be the 50th one she had gotten me with today! God I suck! "You okay?" Cynder called back to me as she positioned herself between me and Bianca and shot off fear shots at her.

I didn't want to get up, I just wanted to lay here in pain, but I knew if I did that Bianca would just keep raining blows on me. So I got up slowly. "My face feels like hamburger..." I said as I staggered to my feet.

"Maybe instead of getting yourself blasted into oblivion you can actually try **dodging** her magic shots for once?" Cynder told me. Yeah I'll do that, I was still getting used to being a quadruped here! Forgive me for not being as nimble as you and Spyro! Lay off!

Spyro meanwhile had managed to latch himself onto Bianca's back, getting the rabbit mage in a sleeper hold. "Get off me!" She demanded as he tried to get the purple dragon off her back. She managed to grab him by the horns and rather violently slammed him onto the ground. However Spyro was quickly back on his feet before Bianca could capitalize.

Me and Cynder started to fire on Bianca, shots of fire and poison rained on her, I actually managed to burn her arm! The first shot I had actually landed the whole fight. "You little brat!" Bianca hissed at me before throwing another magic shot my way. I actually managed to get out of the way of one. I was seriously having flashbacks to playing dodgeball in gym class right now, only difference was instead of rubber balls being hurled at me, it was deadly magic spells.

I continued to try to hit her with my fire breath but she was keeping herself out of range of my attacks, my fire breath only seemed to go so far. I also noticed that Spyro and Cynder were starting to tire, as they were getting progressively less light on their feet. However Bianca seemed like she could keep going all day long! Unless...

Okay... if I can hit her with a fireball it might be enough to take her out of the fight, if I don't blow myself up that is... again. I concentrated on creating the fireball, hoping against all hope I would actually **shoot** the fireball this time.

I felt something warm zip out of my mouth, the fireball sped right at a surprised Bianca who had been focusing on Spyro and Cynder up to now. It blew up right in front of her, knocking her back and into a wall. She just laid there on the grass... motionless. "Is she... dead?" I asked.

Spyro walked over to her, looking her over. "No, she's just unconscious." Spyro said, I don't know why but I was kinda relieved by that, yeah she was an evil bunny bitch but I don't think I want to have a body count if you know what I mean.

Cynder then walked over to Spyro. "There's just one thing I don't understand..." Cynder began, me and Spyro looked at her. "When we mentioned what The Sorceress was doing to the baby dragons, she seemed to seriously not know... why wouldn't she know about that?" Cynder asked. You know, she was right, that **was** odd, you'd think she'd be well aware of The Sorceress' completely messed up immortality potion thing. But when we told her about it, she seemed shocked for some reason. Well at least we took her out, now all we had to do was restrain her and...

She was gone! What the hell?! Were the hell?! "I should have known she'd mess it up." I heard someone hiss at as. We all turned to see another mage standing on the other side of the gate, having Bianca's unconscious body slung over his shoulder. It was the same mage that Darius had stealth KO'd back at the dungeon, I could tell by his robe, however his hood was now down so I could see what he was, he was clearly some kind of lizard or raptor or something. He had a long tuft of white fur hanging out the back of his head, his scales were red with black tiger stripes. His chin was white and his eyes were a fiery orange color with slitted pupils. "As much as I would enjoy killing you all, The Sorceress would have my head if I left her brightest apprentice in your captivity." The lizard man said before turning to Spyro. "I hope you aren't too fond of your wings purple dragon, because I do look forward to cutting them from your body very soon." He cackled before walking away.

We just watched as the lizard took Bianca away. Me, Spyro, and Cynder all looked to the sky to see a few husks fly away. Looks like the attack was over... and I took out Bianca! Booyah! Not bad for my first real fight if I do say so myself.

"Dwayne!"

We all turned around to see Taven running at us. You know Taven, a few minutes earlier would have been **awesome**! "Are you guys alright? Where are they all going?" Taven asked noticing the husks were all leaving.

Spyro decided to explain. "Dwayne managed to knock Bianca out, but another mage managed to make off with her before we could restrain her." Spyro said. Taven seemed quite impressed that I actually took her out. Soon Volteer managed to find us as well, as he came down for a landing. "Is everyone alright?" He asked as he landed.

We all nodded, granted I was beat to hell, but I knew it wasn't anything serious. Hopefully I would get better at fighting in time...

We all decided to head back into the temple to check on everyone, we entered the guardian's chambers to check on Terrador and my dad, who Volteer said had stayed behind to defend the temple. There were a pile of bodies scattered all over the room, with dad and Terrador standing proudly over them all. However they weren't completely unscratched, dad's lip was bleeding slightly, and Terrador had a few small cuts on his green scales but outside of that they were both completely fine.

"I **was **going to ask you two if you were alright, however it seems you two handled things quite well." Volteer said, looking around at all the corpses my dad and Terrador had just made. Okay they were already corpses before hand but you get the idea.

Terrador looked over to my father. "Indeed, Blaze is quite the fighter it seems." Terrador commented, apparently quite impressed at my dad's fighting prowess.

"You weren't so bad yourself Terrador." He returned the compliment... hold up... dad said something **nice** about one of the guardians?! Were they actually starting to get along? God I hope so, I'd rather they all be friends instead of dad acting like they lit his puppy on fire. Dad then walked over to me, looking me over. "Are you alright Dwayne?" He asked me.

"Well, I feel like I was tenderized like a piece of meat, but I think I'll be okay." I told him honestly. I wasn't going to lie to him. I got my red little ass kicked, but I also managed to take the badguy out so I guess that made up for it... I think.

"Dwayne held his own pretty well against Bianca, but he has a lot of room for improvement." Spyro added, my dad's eyes widened when he heard I took on Bianca. "I told you to stay in the gardens!" He snapped. Yeah I knew he'd be mad about that. However he quickly cooled down. "But I can't say I'm not proud to hear you managed to hold your own against a mage as skilled as Bianca." He added with a smile.

We all then decided to go check on Cyril and Darius, who Terrador explained had corralled all the young dragons into a room so Bianca couldn't snag any of them. We found Cyril and Darius standing outside the room, checking on the young dragons who were thankfully all still there. Lisa lit up when she saw me and dad come in. "Dwayne! You're okay! Where were you?!" She asked me.

"Getting beat up by Bianca." I said jokingly. Lisa thumped me on the head with her paw for that one. "I knew you went after her." She said clearly annoyed by this. I was just glad everyone made it out okay, I mean, this could have gotten a lot worse than it did...

"Ember?!"

We all turned to see that Flame was looking for someone, someone named 'Ember' apparently. "Ember where are you?!" He shouted, clearly worried.

I turned to Spyro. "Who's Ember?" I asked him. Spyro groaned, signifying he didn't exactly have good relations with her.

Cynder stepped forward. "Ember is Spyro's #1 fan. She's a little pink dragoness that follows him around everywhere claiming she and him are "soulmates"." Cynder explained, clearly not having a high opinion of this "Ember" dragon either.

However Flame seemed quite worried about her disappearance. I had no clue where she could have-

Oh no... you don't think? "Spyro... if Ember is missing... you don't think that...?" I said, Spyro filled in the blanks pretty quickly, and was frightened by what I was implying.

"You don't think one of the husks took Ember do you?" Spyro asked Cynder. Cynder sighed, " I really hope you two are wrong. As much as I find that pink little nuisance annoying, I don't think she deserves to have her wings chopped off for it." Cynder said.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I could already hear The Sorceress' ranting at me about how we were incompetent fools for coming out of the Warfang raid empty handed, we had no purple dragon, no Dwayne, no Lisa, not even another young dragon to compensate for our failure. I almost didn't want to return to the castle, but I had to eventually, she was expecting me and Bianca.

"Let me go! HELP!"

I turned to see one of the Husks had a small pink dragoness in it's maw. She wasn't Lisa, I could tell from her light purple head spikes. She wore a golden choker with a red heart shaped jewel hanging from it, her horns were curved outwards and behind her head, making them practically useless for combat. I smiled a toothy grin, I may not have the purple dragon, but at least I got a young dragon for The Sorceress. I took the little dragon from the husk.

"Let me go! When Spyro finds you you'll be sorry!" She yelled, squirming and kicking as I held her by the tail. She mentioned the purple dragon by name! This just got better and better, if this little dragon had a connection to the purple dragon, doubtless he would come to rescue her, and when he did... he would be mine...

The Sorceress would reward me handsomely for this, for not only did I have another pair of wings for her potion, I also had bait for the purple dragon! "You my little dragon, are going to make The Sorceress very happy." I said to the little dragon as I carried her and Bianca to The Sorceress' chambers.

Life is too good to me sometimes...

* * *

**A/N- OH NOEZ! Rikor has Ember! Will our heroes rescue her? Or will The Sorceress have a new pair of wings to add to her potion?**


	10. Behind Closed Doors

**Chapter 10: Behind Closed Doors**

* * *

I didn't know why this lizard was so happy, but he wasn't exactly making the trip very comfortable for me. He just dragged me across the floor by my tail! The jerk! What do they want with me anyway? "Let me go! When Spyro finds you you'll be sorry!" I yelled at him, Spyro would come for me, I knew he would.

The Lizard then lifted me up high so I was face to face with him. "SHUT UP! You will silence yourself or so help me I will smash your tiny skull against that wall!" The Lizard threatened me. The Lizard then rounded a corner and laid the rabbit mage he was carrying on a bed. He then violently tugged on my tail, dragging me to where he was apparently taking me.

We entered a large throne room of some kind. It was actually quite beautiful with stain glass windows and intricately designed carpets. A sharp contrast to the fat old hag that sat in the throne, she was some kind of weird lizard thing too, but she was a dark gray-blue color, her robes were really fancy and had a large white collar around the neck. She had an indignant look on her face as the Lizard approached her. "So I take it you have no purple dragon for me Rikor?" She asked the lizard, who's name was apparently Rikor.

"No Sorceress, however, one of the husks managed to take one of the young dragons at the temple." Rikor said, throwing me rather violently in front of the fat hag. "I wanted a **purple** dragon Rikor! Not this pink little rat!" She spat. Who was she calling a rat?! At least the ground doesn't shake when I walk!

However Rikor grew a sinister smile. "Oh, you'll get the purple dragon Sorceress. This little dragon claims to be a personal friend of the purple dragon." Rikor said. The fat hag's eyes widened with delight at this news. "So we use the pink rat as bait for the purple dragon! And when he comes to save his little pink friend, his wings will be mine along with hers." She said. Wait... my wings? Wh... what did she mean by that?! "Take her to the dungeon, we'll cut her wings off when we have her purple friend." She ordered Rikor. Wait! Cut off my wings?! Why?! I like my wings!

Rikor grabbed me by the tail and began dragging me again. I had to get away! I don't wanna lose my wings! I tried to scrape and claw my way free, but Rikor's grip was too strong, we soon came to a staircase that seemed to just keep going down and down into oblivion, however soon he came to were he was taking me. He threw me violently against the wall and quickly grabbed me by the horn before I could get away, he took a chain and locked it around my neck. "There, now you won't get away. I'll be seeing you again real soon little one, when I cut your wings right from your **back**!" Rikor said with a manic gleam in his eye before he got up and left me there.

I was so scared, more scared than I had ever been in my life! Oh why did I leave the room Cyril was holding us in?! I curled up in a ball and began to cry, please Spyro... save me...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

We had searched the whole temple front to back, none of us could find hide nor hair of little Ember anywhere. Flame had explained to me that Ember got scared and ran off somewhere when the husks started busting into the temple. This only served to make me even more scared that The Sorceress had Ember and her wings were going to be a few inches shorter in a few minutes. I tried not to mention this theory to Flame, because he was already freaking out as it was he didn't need me making it worse.

"Flame calm down! I'm sure Ember's fine." I tried to reassure him, we had all split up to find Ember, Spyro had suggest I go with Flame to make sure he didn't, and I quote "_Do anything stupid"_. Why **I** had to be the one to do this I had no idea. But whatever... better than him being alone I guess.

Flame shook his head. "No she isn't! She would have come back by now if she was! One of those husks got her I know it!" Flame insisted. It didn't seem Flame even knew about The Sorceress, let alone her... intentions. I debated with myself if I should keep it that way or just outright tell him the truth. I mean, thinking she got eaten or something couldn't be much better than knowing she was gonna lose her wings.

"GUYS!"

It was Darius, from the sounds of it it sounded like he found something. Me and Flame rushed over to where Darius was, "Darius, what is it?" I asked him. Darius turned to me with a sad expression on his face, he said nothing and pointed to the floor, right there were several claw makes like there had been a scuffle.

"They have the scent of a husk on them. And judging from the marks, it wasn't the only one that made them." Darius explained. He was right, some of them were smaller and thinner than the others. "I fear a husk got your friend Flame, I'm sorry." Darius said solemnly. Flame just stood in shocked silence, I could see tears welling up in his eyes. He then suddenly ran off. "Flame!" I called out before trying to go after him.

But Darius grabbed me by the front leg. "Let him go Dwayne, I think it's best we give him time to collect his thoughts." Darius told me. I reluctantly complied. I felt sorry for Flame, I had no clue how close he and Ember were, but judging from his reaction they were very close. I couldn't imagine being in his position.

I then heard Darius sigh. "This whole thing is just so revolting." Darius commented. I raised an eyebrow, where did **this** come from? "Cutting the wings from young dragons, all to make a potion for eternal life, their lives cut short to extend that of their murderer. It turns my stomach." Darius commented.

Why was he bringing this up? We all knew it was messed up, I'd be concerned if he **didn't** find it messed up. "Why are you bringing this up?" I asked him. Darius hung his head low. "Taven, he's always been a tender hearted cheetah, in fact it was he who saw you the day we met you and insisted we help you, I didn't want to because I didn't know anything of you, but he insisted, saying it was wrong to leave you helpless in the woods. he's always had a soft spot for the young, and cannot stand seeing them hurt." Darius explained. Where was he going with this? "I fear, if The Sorceress does indeed have Ember, and we arrive too late, it might break him." He finished.

Okay, now it made sense, Darius was worried about how Taven would react if he saw The Sorceress'... handy work. "You're an older brother too Dwayne, you understand how important it is to us to protect our younger siblings. Both physically, and mentally. I'm worried I might not be able to protect him from seeing horrors no one should ever have to witness." Darius said trying to fight back tears from escaping his green eyes.

"It won't come to that Darius, we'll save her, I know we will." I said, I wasn't really that sure we would, but Darius was really worried about this, I could tell. "For both Ember and Taven's sake I hope you're right." Darius replied, I hoped so too, the last thing I wanted was Taven to completely break, and to have a dead dragon on our hands.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes to see that I was back at the castle, the infirmary to be more specific, I can't believe I let Dwayne blindside me like that! I could only imagine how angry The Sorceress was right now that I failed to capture the purple dragon. I got out of the small cot that I was laid on and made my way to The Sorceress' chambers in hopes I could somehow save myself from having my head chewed off... again.

However while I was walking down the halls, I noticed a door slightly opened, this door had always been there, but Rikor always had it locked for some reason, this being the first time I had ever seen it opened. I couldn't fight off my curiosity and decided to have a little peek, what Rikor didn't know wouldn't hurt him right?

The door slowly opened with a loud whine as I entered the mystery room. My heart stopped cold at what I then saw inside...

The room was rather small, with a single stone slab in the center, said stone slab having what could only be... restraints attached to it. And on the slab itself was what could only be... dried blood. I noticed on a table to the side there was a blade of some kind, it too was caked in blood long since dried.

And next to it, was a jar of some kind, and inside, were what could only be... dragon wings. What was all this for? I thought back to what Cynder had said, about how the Sorceress was cutting young dragon's wings off for a potion. It was crazy! We just needed them so we could use our magic! Surely killing them would get in the way of that! But it was hard to argue that now that I've seen what I have seen in here.

"You shouldn't be in here Bianca."

I turned to see Rikor standing in the doorway with a stern look on his face. "What the hell is this Rikor?! Does The Sorceress know you're cutting the wings off the dragons we're supposed to be using to power our magic?!" I said, I always thought Rikor wasn't right in the head, but this? This was beyond that!

Rikor let out a sickening laugh. "I guess there's not use in hiding it now is there? Yes, she knows, hell she told me to do it. That story about how we need them for our magic? Just a story we told you to make sure you did as you were told. Didn't you even once question why you could use magic during the attack on the temple? The Sorceress had ordered me to remove the wings from the young dragons we captured so that I could make an immortality potion for her." Rikor explained.

I just stood there in shocked silence, it couldn't possibly be true! The Sorceress wasn't exactly the most friendly person in the world, but I would like to think even she was above... this. "We knew you wouldn't approve, you were always too soft Bianca, too caring to see the bigger picture. With this potion, The Sorceress will be onto a god! We can finally remove the dragons from their seat of power! So what if a few worthless hatchlings die along the way? When we will soon live like kings!" Rikor said.

He was mad! Killing innocent baby dragons just for a chance to live in luxury! I felt so many different emotions right now, guilt, anger, fear, betrayal, they all swirled around my head in a mad storm of despair. I could see it in Rikor's eyes he was completely insane! I quickly grabbed the knife and pointed it in his direction. "You're sick! Sick in the head!" I accused him.

Rikor quickly shot a magic blast to disarm me. The knife hit the stone floor with a loud clang. "Now now Bianca, it's impolite to point." Rikor mused. He then grabbed me by the robe. "The Sorceress will be so disappointed when she learns you had to die because you couldn't keep your nose out of my affairs!" Rikor growled.

I quickly shot a magic blast right into Rikor's face, causing him to lose his grip on me and stagger backwards. "No more! I'm putting an end to this! All of it!" I shouted at him. This was disgusting! And I wanted no part in this!

Rikor laughed as he got back to his feet. "Is that so? And how do you suppose you're going to do that Bianca? You know you cannot hope to match The Sorceress power by yourself, and I'm certain the dragons won't be so quick to aid you after you attacked their temple. If I were you, I'd reconsider your stance on this issue, are these foolish dragons really worth dying for Bianca?" Rikor said. He had a point, I had no allies, the dragons would never trust me after all I had done. But I refused to help The Sorceress kill innocent hatchlings either!

I shot another blast at Rikor, knocking him into a wall and into unconsciousness. "Go to hell Rikor!" I hissed before running off to make my escape. I ran down the halls as fast as I could, I knew it was a bad idea to try to escape through the front door, no doubt the other mages would notice and question why I was leaving in such haste. So I had to take the back exit in the dungeon if I wanted to escape quietly.

But when I came down to the dungeon I heard a small whimpering. I used a light spell so I could see what the sound was, right there chained to the floor was a small pink dragon, chained to the floors not unlike Blaze was when he was in our captivity. I approached the little dragon, no way was I going to allow The Sorceress to take her wings! The little dragon saw me coming and quickly cowered away. "NO! Leave me alone! Don't cut off my wings please!" She cried hysterically.

I grabbed the chain, and used a spell to unlock it. "Calm down, I'm getting you out of here." I told her. The little dragon managed to calm herself at least a little bit. I scooped her up in my arms and made for the exit. Perhaps rescuing her would also make it easier to gain the dragon's trust? If not at least I prevented another innocent child from being killed in the name of The Sorceress' immortality.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I must have searched for hours for Ember, I hadn't really met her so I had no idea what I was even looking for, but I didn't like the idea of Ember getting her wings chopped off and hoped she was just hiding somewhere in the temple. Although as time went on I began to doubt that more and more.

I still couldn't get over it, The Sorceress was cutting off dragon's wings for a potion! Cynder had told me this while we were searching for Ember, Dwayne apparently already knew and so did Spyro and the cheetah brothers. "Dammit! I'm starting to really think she's not in the temple." Cynder said. As much as I wanted to think she was wrong, given all the evidence she was right, if she was in the temple, **someone** would have found her by now.

Cynder noticed how upset this made me. "Lisa it's okay, if the Sorceress has her we'll get her back." Cynder told me. It was weird, I didn't know Ember, heck I haven't even **seen** her before, but I was so worried about her, I couldn't imagine what it must be like, in The Sorceress' clutches, waiting to have your wings severed.

However I then noticed that Flame was overlooking a balcony in another room. "What's wrong with Flame?" I asked Cynder. Cynder paused for a moment, before she looked at me. "Flame and Ember are really close Lisa, they grew up together. They even arrived and Warfang together. No doubt he's taking her disappearance very hard." Cynder explained to me. I looked over at Flame again, I felt so bad for him, having a close friend go missing had to be a horrible thing to cope with.

Cynder then turned around. "I'm going to go check with Spyro to see if he's found anything, see if you can maybe help Flame out, I think he could use a friend right now." Cynder told me before leaving. I turned and walked over to Flame. I didn't know what I could say to help him feel better, but it was wrong not to try.

I sat next to him, Flame didn't show any signs of noticing me, just staring sadly into the landscape below. "You okay?" I asked him, Flame just whimpered and shook his head. Tears running down his face. "Flame, she's gonna be okay, we'll get her back." I told him.

Flame suddenly turned to me. "NO WE WON'T!" He snapped before breaking down into tears. "Why didn't I stop her?! Why didn't I do anything?! I'm so stupid! She's gone and it's all my fault!" Flame said hysterically. I didn't know what to say, I had never really been in a position like Flame's so I had no real perspective on it. But I needed to try at least, Flame needed someone to comfort him.

I put a comforting paw on his back. "Flame it's not your fault. The Sorceress took her not you." I told him. But Flame just shook his head, unwilling to take the blame off himself from Ember's disappearance.

"I never got to tell her..." Flame suddenly said. I tilted my head, confused. "I never got to tell her how much I really cared about her. I was always too scared to say it because of how much she fawned over Spyro. And now I never get the chance." Flame elaborated. Poor Flame, he never got the chance to tell Ember that he loved her, it was so sweet and tragic at the same time.

I rubbed up against him trying to comfort the poor fire dragon. "You'll get your chance Flame, I promise." I told him. Flame said nothing and just kept sobbing. Hopefully I can make good on that promise, for his sake.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I wasn't willing to give up the search, I had taken it upon myself to expand my search to the city itself, Warfang was bizarrely quiet at night, but it worked out for me, it would make Ember easier to spot. I shuddered at the idea of Ember being taken by that madwoman Sorceress, the idea of children being stripped of their wings filled my heart with anger. The Sorceress' mages best hope they don't cross my path, for I doubt I'll show them any mercy after what I had learned...

Hold on now! Calm yourself Taven, I mustn't lose myself in anger. I had to focus on finding Ember first. Part of me wanted to give up and go back to the temple, but I wanted to be completely sure she was taken by The Sorceress before I ended my search.

My heart skipped a beat when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Perhaps it was Ember? Still frightened by what had happened during the attack? I slowly moved in the direction I saw the motion from. "Ember? Is that you?" I asked. No response. I put my hand on the hilt of my sword in case it was someone less friendly.

However when I rounded the corner I had found who it was I was following, standing right in front of me, with a small pink dragon clutched in her arms, was the rabbit mage herself Bianca. She just stared at me with wide eyes. She was also not in her mage robes anymore, instead she wore a copper colored tunic with a small cape tied around her neck, a pair of brown gauntlets strapped to each arm, and a pair of knee high tan boots. What was Bianca doing here?

I didn't care! She was taking that dragon to her grave! And I'd die before I allowed such a thing! I'd run her right through! Such is a fitting end to one as evil as her!

* * *

**A/N- Oh my, looks like Bianca's defection to the good side may be short lived as Taven is out for blood! Let's hope Bianca won't be a few inches shorter by the end of next chapter...**


	11. Redemption

**Chapter 11: Redemption**

* * *

I should have thought this through a bit better, I thought if I got Ember back to the dragon temple and explained things I could get the dragons to trust that my turn to their side was genuine. I hadn't counted on someone else finding me first. It was very clear that this cheetah intended to kill me as he rushed me with his sword, I managed to dodge it. "You release that young dragon now mage! Or I swear I will cut your head from your neck!" The cheetah threatened me.

I would have complied, but Ember was still quite shaken by her experience at The Sorceress' castle, and this cheetah's attack wasn't helping matters at all. "Stop! I can explain!" I pleaded with him. I didn't want to fight him if I didn't have to. But if he became a threat to Ember's safety I'd have no choice but to retaliate.

"Oh I'm sure you can you witch!" The cheetah hissed at me as he took another swipe at me. He clearly wasn't thinking this through, all it would take was one misjudged swing and my efforts to save Ember's life would be for not.

I just kept dodging his swipes, hoping to at least tire him out. "You idiot! You **do** know I have a young dragon in my arms right?" I asked him. Thinking was clearly not his strong suit. He seemed more focused on killing me than making sure Ember was still living by tomorrow! What a reckless moron...

However the cheetah just kept going, blinded by rage. So now I had to keep moving to keep me **and** Ember alive. Soon enough he began to slow down to the point were he couldn't even lift his weapon anymore. "Are you done?" I asked him.

He just shot me a dirty look. "If you think... I'm going to let you.. take that child to your deranged master... you have another thing coming!" The cheetah growled, clearly out of breath from all his reckless sword swinging.

"That's what I was trying to explain to you, I don't work for The Sorceress anymore, not when I learned what she _really_ did with the young dragons..." I said, I really doubted he'd believe me, why would he? It wasn't even three hours ago that I had sent husks to attack the dragon temple.

And it seemed I was right given the expression on the cat's face. "Why should I believe you?" He asked me. That was a good question, why **should** he? I had no evidence I had turned my back on The Sorceress.

So I offered Ember to him, hoping this gesture would be enough proof of my defection. He seemed stunned as he skeptically took the dragoness from my arms. "I understand if you're unwilling to forgive me for what I did under The Sorceress' employ, but all I want now is for The Sorceress to be stopped." I told him. The cheetah had no clue what to do with the information.

He looked down to Ember. "Is what she says true little one?" He asked her, I don't know if he'd get anything out of her, I'd been trying to talk to her the whole way here, all I managed to get out of her was a name, that's it.

Ember looked up at the cheetah, and nodded. "She freed me, a... and she was taking me home before you showed up." She said. This being the first full sentence she has said since we left The Sorceress' castle.

The cheetah seemed to believe the little dragoness judging by the way he looked at me. "Well then, I guess it's only fair I welcome you to our side." He said cheerfully. I had serious doubts that the dragons would be so easily convinced, but I had to try at least, I knew I couldn't stop The Sorceress on my own, and would need their help.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

That bitch! Not only had Bianca knocked me out, but she took the pink dragon as well! It was clear now that she had betrayed us, and surely The Sorceress would want her head! And so did I now. I stormed to The Sorceress' chambers, The Sorceress needed to know of Bianca's treachery as soon as possible. "Sorceress!" I called as I entered the room.

The Sorceress was predictably angered by my sudden entrance. "This had better be important Rikor! You know I don't like being bothered!" The Sorceress said indignantly. Oh, it was important, I assure you.

"Bianca has betrayed us Sorceress, she found out about the immortality potion, knocked me out, took the pink dragon, and fled." I explained to her.

The Sorceress was enraged, she quickly stormed up to me and grabbed me by the throat, her hand tightened around my neck so tightly I struggled to even gasp for air. "I told you to make sure she **never** found out! And now not only am I short one mage, but she took my bait for the purple dragon with her! I should kill you now just for that alone! But you should count yourself lucky that I need you or I would end your miserable existence right now!" The Sorceress threatened me.

She then released her grip, me gasping for air. "Forgive me Sorceress, I swear I will hunt her down and punish her properly for this betrayal." I said hoping in vain I could save face.

"Oh you've done more than enough already you moronic lizard! If Bianca wishes to turn against the one who took her in and taught her magic then so be it. She can die along with those foolish dragons! But in due time... they'll be expecting us if we attack now, no we must wait for the best moment to strike." The Sorceress said. "Now leave me! And don't come back until I can stomach the sight of your face again." She then barked at me, not wanting to incur more of The Sorceress' wrath I complied.

I was relieved, glad I still had my head, it was rare for people who angered The Sorceress to **that** extent lived to tell the tale. I knew full well I only lived because with Bianca gone, I was her strongest mage and she needed me. I swear Bianca, you will pay for this humiliation... and your death will not come swift, I promise you that!

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Darius' pacing was starting to make me nervous, we had all basically given up the search for Ember and had decided to gather in the guardian's chambers and start formulating a plan to get her out of The Sorceress' doom castle. But Taven hasn't come back yet, and it was starting to make Darius worry. "Dude will you stop pacing? You're making me nervous!" I said to him.

"I can't Dwayne! Taven should have come back by now! I fear something may have happened to him!" Darius said, continuing his pacing, yeah I found it weird that Taven hadn't come back yet, but I just figured he got lost or something, knowing what I knew about him it wouldn't shock me.

Terrador also seemed to be getting annoyed with Darius' pacing. "Darius you need to calm yourself, I'm certain that Taven is fine. There is no need to panic over nothing." Terrador told Darius.

Darius stopped to answer Terrador. "How can I?! My brother is missing! And so soon after an attack!" Darius said, so worried I think his fur was starting to fray.

"Oh brother, you always were such a worry wart."

We all turned to see Taven come in, and he had a dragon with him, a pink one. "EMBER!" Flame said excitedly before rushing over to her. "Are you okay? What happened?!" Flame began bombarding her with questions.

However Taven interrupted. "That's what I wanted to discuss with you all, she was indeed taken by The Sorceress, however, she was rescued by someone I'm sure all of you never expected." Taven said before motioning for someone to come forth.

And right there, out of the shadows, stepped a very skittish Bianca of all people! Everyone, including me, took an aggressive stance, what the hell was **Bianca** doing here?! "Easy easy! She comes in peace!" Taven quickly said.

She what now? This... this was Bianca! The evil rabbit mage who abducted me and Lisa from the Human Realms and beat the pudding out of me... TWICE! How could she **not** be here to kill us all?! The others seemed just as skeptical, "Lies! This mage has done **nothing** but torment us eastern dragons since she began working for The Sorceress! Taven are you mad?! Why would you bring her here?!" My dad snapped.

Taven sighed. "I assure you, she does not work for The Sorceress anymore, it turns out she was unaware of what The Sorceress was really doing with the young dragons, and when she found out, she had a change of heart and betrayed The Sorceress and rescued Ember." Taven explained, all the while Bianca was completely silent, just looking off to the side in guilt. I was beginning to buy into Taven's story now... but I was the only one.

Cyril turned sharply to Taven. "You expect us to believe that?! This heathen is merely trying to trick us so she can take the children while our backs are turned! I say we kill her now and be done with it! It will be one less mage to worry about..." Cyril said. I saw Bianca cringe when Cyril said this, and I really didn't blame her. But I also couldn't blame everyone for being distrusting of her, hell I still kinda was.

Ember then decided to butt in. "WAIT! It's true! She **did** rescue me!" She said, trying to help her supposed rescuer, well if Ember's confirming Bianca's story then it must be true, why would Ember lie about this?

However bizarrely none of the guardians were convinced, not even Volteer who I doubted actually had a mean bone in his body, that's pretty bad. "Rubbish! Clearly she has Ember under some kind of spell or charm! Hell she probably has Taven under the same spell as well!" Cyril accused. Okay, that was a good argument, man this is so confusing! My brain hurts...

I looked around to see if anyone else was as confused as I was, Darius wasn't convinced, I could tell by the stone cold expression on his face, and neither was Cynder, who was softly growling. Flame seemed to want to believe Ember, but wasn't so sure about it. Of course Lisa believed her, she was always the kind of girl who always saw the good in people, to a fault, however Spyro, Spyro seemed to be thinking about something. I turned back to Taven to see he was still trying to convince everyone. "I am **not** under a spell! I speak the truth! And I'm certain Ember does as well! Is it really so hard to believe she took issue with taking the wings off of baby dragons?!" Taven asked.

Spyro then walked over to Bianca, everyone fell silent as he did this, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. He then stopped in front of her, just staring at her, as if examining her. He then grew a relaxed expression. "I believe her." He said simply. To the shock of everyone in the room. Dammit Spyro! Is there anything about you that's **normal**? How the hell does he know that?

My dad seemed outright offended that Spyro said this. "Are you mad Spyro?! This witch's soul is as black as the magic she uses! I spent years under the mages captivity! I know she has no conscience! How could you trust her?!" Dad snapped.

However Spyro seemed to have already made up his mind. "Everyone can have a change of heart Blaze. Even black mages. Look at her, she clearly regrets what she's done and wants to make up for that by helping us. I'm willing to at least give her a chance." Spyro said. You know, I think I'm with Spyro on this one, it's clear she's racked with guilt, and besides, she's not stupid enough to think we'd ever actually fall for her sudden heel turn directly after she sent zombie dragons to wreck our stuff. Not unless it was actually genuine.

Terrador and Volteer both seemed to believe Spyro, but Cyril, Dad, and Cynder still weren't convinced. "And you can tell that just by looking at her? You don't know her like I do Spyro, she is perfectly capable of faking the "guilt" you see, you cannot trust a black mage Spyro." Dad insisted, it seemed out of everyone dad was the least willing to trust her. But I had accepted long ago that dad was a master of grudge holding and wouldn't believe Bianca was a goodguy now even if she rescued a litter of kittens from a burning building.

"I agree with Blaze, we have no reason to believe this witch speaks the truth! And I for one am not willing to risk the lives of the children on the off chance she might have had a change of heart!" Cyril said, I seriously couldn't think of a way Bianca could ever convince either of them she was on the up and up. I bizarrely wanted to believe her despite the fact I was **still** feeling the beating she gave me earlier. I don't know what it was, just something about her body language made it hard to believe what Cyril and Dad were saying. "I'm with Spyro, I think it's only fair we give her a chance." I said, Spyro seemed happy that I was backing him up.

However Dad had a very different reaction. "Dwayne do I need to remind you what this heathen did to you and your sister?! Who it was that gave you the bruises that litter your body? We cannot trust her!" He snapped, not happy at all I was supporting Spyro here.

Terrador then turned to dad. "Blaze that's enough, I think Spyro makes a valid point, I don't disagree that this mage has done horrible things to everyone here, however we would be no better if we didn't at least give her a chance. Besides, she has knowledge of The Sorceress that we do not, she could prove quite useful to us." Terrador said to dad. Terrador then walked over to Bianca. "I'm willing to give you a chance to redeem yourself, but know this mage, if me or any of my fellow guardians find any reason at all to believe you may betray us, we will not hesitate to kill you on the spot. You get one chance and one chance alone! Is that understood?" Terrador said.

Bianca stayed silent for a moment, before managing to look the earth guardian in the eyes. "I understand." She said. Terrador nodded and walked back to his spot. Dad was absolutely livid, flabbergasted that everyone was so willing to give her a second chance. But he seemed to know there was nothing he could do to change it. Everyone soon left, except for me, Spyro, Lisa, and Bianca.

It was really weird being around her and not fearing for my life. But I knew she wasn't going to attack us, she just seemed kinda... withdrawn. She then looked over to Spyro. "I don't understand, you had no reason to believe me, why did you stand up for me?" She asked him.

Spyro smiled. "I can tell you just want to help us. I guess you could say I'm just a good judge of character." Spyro said proudly. Bianca nodded.

Volteer then came into the room. "It's growing quite late, I think after the day we've had we all could use a bit of rest, do you have somewere to stay Bianca?" Volteer asked. Bianca shook her head. "Well, I suppose you could spend the night here, just try not to go into the gardens, Blaze has sort of claimed it as his own ans doesn't exactly have much trust in you." Volteer said before turning to walk away, we all left her alone... I'm sure she wanted some time to sort things out on her own.

* * *

I wasn't surprised that there were still dragons who didn't trust me, I was a bit surprised there were dragons that **did**. But I wasn't going to complain, having any of them on my side put me in the perfect position to stop The Sorceress' mad schemes. And that was enough for me.

"You may have the purple dragon fooled, but you can't fool me witch."

I turned around to see Blaze standing off in the distance looking right at me. "I'm only going to say this once, I don't trust you, not even a little, and I will be dammed if a black mage takes what little family I have left. If I have even the slightest inkling that you may hurt Dwayne, Lisa, or any of their friends, I **will** kill you, right then and there, and I assure you... it will not be quick. So if you really intend on betraying us, you might as well just leave now..." Blaze said before walking away, I wasn't surprised at all he was the most distrusting of me. I didn't exactly make his stay at The Sorceress' dungeon any more pleasant.

Hopefully, I wouldn't give him any reason to think I wasn't really trying to help. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't going to be a bit on edge for the next few days...

* * *

**A/N- Looks like Bianca has found herself on Blaze's long list of people he holds a grudge against!**

**Oh Blaze, you so angry.**

**Blaze: Don't make me hurt you Foowd, because I will enjoy it.**

**Silly Blaze, you can't hurt me, you're just an OC I made up...**

**Blaze: *takes out a pen and writes my name on it* You're on the list Foowd...**

**Aw man! BUMMER!**


	12. Among The Ruins

**Chapter 12: Among The Ruins**

* * *

I hadn't slept that good in so long, I guess fighting an evil mage and said mage making a complete heel turn took a lot out of you. Unfortunately dad had us up at the crack of dawn again for more training. I had shown dad that I had learned how to shoot a fireball in my fight with Bianca. A feat he was quite impressed with, it seemed both me and Lisa had mastered fire.

However there was one more thing dad wanted to show us. "Dwayne, Lisa, now that you've mastered both fire breath and the fire ball, it's time for you to learn how to do a fire fury." Dad said. Fire fury? Oh yeah! Those ultimate attack things from the games! I didn't think those were actually a part of the Legend of Spyro universe, just a game mechanic. But nope, they were real, and I was about to learn how to do one.

Me and Lisa stood back as dad demonstrated, he closed his eyes as the heat around him started to skyrocket as flames burst from the floor around him. Seeing an actual fury attack in person was quite the experience, when he finally unleashed it it was like a sonic boom, the flames burst from his body and covered quite a large blast radius. When it was all said and done dad kinda staggered a bit. "Guh... sorry, it's not as easy for me to do as it used to be." He said.

He then turned to me and Lisa. "A fury attack is a very powerful one, and should only ever be used when absolutely necessary. All you need to do is concentrate your inner flame into one large burst. It takes a lot of mana to do, so use it wisely." Dad said. Okay I got that, I was gonna blow myself sky high again wasn't I?

Lisa went first, she stepped a safe distance from me and dad. "Okay Lisa, now focus, concentrate your flame into one burst, it usually takes a while, but you'll know it when it comes." Dad said to her.

Lisa did as he asked, standing there, eyes closed, at first nothing seemed to happen, however with a small spark fire began to surround her, she slowly lifted into the air before suddenly she unleashed the fury attack, it wasn't as impressive as dad's, but it was her first fury so that was to be expected. "I did it!" Lisa said excitedly.

Dad gave her a proud smile. "Very good Lisa, it was a bit weak, but in time it should improve. Okay Dwayne, your turn." Dad said, oh boy, well if Lisa could get it on her first try, so could I right?

I walked a safe distance from dad and Lisa, and began to focus on my inner fire like dad had instructed. For a while I felt nothing, but soon I felt a sudden spike in heat around me, when it built up to a certain point I let it loose.

However, naturally I had to screw up somehow, as I suddenly felt a painful burn on my front right leg. I cried out as I flopped to the floor in horrible agony. "Dwayne!" Dad shouted before he and Lisa both rushed over to me. Man did I feel stupid right now, I just burned myself with my own fury. What epic fail.

"Dammit! I burned myself! How does that even work?!" I winced, feeling like the biggest idiot in the realms right now. Dad looked my injury over. "Don't feel too bad Dwayne, this happens sometimes when dragons try their furies for the first time." Dad said, it made me feel less stupid, but not by much. "I think you two deserve a break, Dwayne you should take this time to get some spirit gems to heal your burn." Dad said before he and Lisa walked off.

I tried to stand up but of course the burn on my leg made this extremely painful and I fell back down to the temple floor with a yelp. "Need help?" I heard said from behind me, I turned to see Bianca standing over me, clearly fighting back a laugh.

"I'm fine!" I insisted. I was still trying to get used to the idea of Bianca being a goodguy, it was bizarre to put it kindly. I tried to get up again but it only yielded the same result as before.

Bianca then grabbed my burnt leg. "Here, allow me." She said, before I could object she moved her hand over my burnt leg, it glowed green for a moment before suddenly my burns were healed.

I even looked it over to make sure, yeah she seriously just healed me. It was weird having healing magic used on you, it felt cold, like someone pouring water on your wound. "Uhh... thanks?" I said. Still not used to magic as a whole.

Bianca nodded. "Still getting used to me being on your side are we?" She asked me, how did she know that? Was she psychic? You know what, given all the weird crap I'd seen her pull it really wouldn't shock me. "To be honest I'm still getting used to it myself. For so long The Sorceress told me you dragons were the enemy, that they were the monsters and we were just putting them in their place, only now do I realize who the monster really was, and what horrible things I did to help her hurt your kind." She added, feeling quite guilty over the things she'd done.

I wanted to help her, but I had no clue how many "horrible" things she had done for The Sorceress up to this point. "Well, that's over now, and you're making up for it by helping us put her down for good." I told her, it was the best I could come up with.

Bianca sighed. "I want to believe you, but it's clear your father feels quite differently." She said.

I shook my head. "Dad's got a thing for holding grudges, hell he still doesn't really like the Guardians for what happened during the temple raid." I told her. It was kinda irritating how unwilling dad was to let go of things. He was kind and wise when he liked you, but cross him once and you're on his sh**list until the day you die. I bet that made him a lot of friends back in the east.

"I've noticed, but I really didn't help make his experience under The Sorceress' captivity any more pleasant in his defense." Bianca pointed out. Dammit Bianca! I'm trying to make you feel better! And you're **not** helping! "That said, I do appreciate you and Spyro convincing The Guardians to give me a second chance." She then said, patting my head as if I was a dog or something.

She then got up and walked away. And no sooner did she leave than I heard dad call my name. Like a good little dragon I ran his way, I soon found him and Lisa in the gardens, dad noticed my leg was a lot less burnt than he last saw it. "How many gems did you use?" Dad questioned.

"None, Bianca healed it." I said, naturally dad didn't like that answer, giving me a stern look like he just caught me with my hand in the cookie jar. "And you let her?! She could have cursed it for all you know! I don't want her using her magic on you Dwayne. Not even her healing magic. Is that understood?" Dad lectured me.

Dude it was just a healing spell! It's not like she preformed some horrible ritual or something! "It's fine dad, she really just healed it." I insisted. But dad was never one to admit he was wrong. "I don't care! I don't want her using magic on you! Is that clear?!" Dad snapped.

It was pointless to argue with him, dad was anything if not stubborn. "Yes dad..." I groaned, I had a bad feeling that little semi promise was going to bite me in the ass later. But I knew dad wasn't going to stop yelling at me until I complied. I swear, dad would make a great drill instructor.

He seemed satisfied with my response. "Now then, I called you here because I want to teach you and Lisa to fly." Dad said. F...fly? As in with the wings and the air and the lethally high heights? Well dragons **did** fly Dwayne, it was inevitable that dad would want to teach us. That didn't help my phobias any.

I didn't really have a fear of heights per say, I was just horrified at the concept of dying by falling from a great height. Although come to think of it they are basically the same thing really... "Dwayne are you alright? You look uneasy." Dad asked me.

"Y...yeah, I... I'm just not that big on heights." I confessed, how ironic is this? The **dragon** is afraid of heights. Isn't that the same as a seal being afraid of water?

Dad gave me a very dry look. "Well you'd best get over it Dwayne, because you're going to be doing a lot of it when we leave for the east." Dad said. Hold up! He was _still_ insisting on us going to the east? Dude! Terrador basically said that it was a smoldering crater after Malefor rolled through it! I guess he'd have to see it for himself for him to get the point.

Dad then lead me and Lisa in search of a good take off point. But before we could find one we happened to run into Spyro, why the hell he was not only awake but at the temple this early in the morning was a mystery and a half. "Hey guys, what's going on?" Spyro asked.

"I'm going to teach Dwayne and Lisa to fly, then we're going to go see the eastern lands, Terrador insists they're in ruins, but I want to see it for myself." Dad explained, okay so even **he** knew the east was wrecked, but he still wanted to take us there! Wow...

Spyro then turned in another direction. "There's a balcony over this way we use for flight training, follow me." Spyro said. Okay Spyro you seriously aren't going to question why my dad was insisting on taking us to a ruined village? You're just going along with this? Okay...

Spyro led us to a high balcony overlooking the forest out back of Warfang. Dad looked it over, "Not bad, it'll do." He said as if trying hard not to seem impressed. He then turned to me and Lisa. "Flight is one of the many basic skills every dragon must learn at some point. Flying is in our genes, our instinct. You both have the secret to flight locked within your bodies, close your eyes, and clear your mind, the answers will come to you." Dad explained.

Why did everything dragons did revolve around _"clearing your mind"_? Stupid dragons must be the most badass dragons in the universe if everything seriously works that way. But again, he's the dragon here, so he'd know better than me. I did as he said, wiping my mind clean. Soon I felt myself being lifted into the air, I opened my eyes to see I had become airborne! Wow it was that easy? I guess dad was right, it really was instinct.

It felt bizarrely natural to fly, I seemed to instinctively know how to fly forward, turn, and slow down, bizarre. I flew around the forest area for a bit trying to get a feel for my wings, I then saw Spyro fly up next to me. "See? It's not so hard is it?" Spyro asked me.

You could say that, I'd say it was far easier than it should be. "It's so weird, it's like I'd been flying all my life." I said.

Spyro nodded. "Yeah, it's weird isn't it? I felt the same way the first time I flew." Okay so at least it wasn't just me that found this odd then.

"I don't know how I feel about going to the east, Terrador said there was basically nothing there anymore, I'm actually kinda scared to see how bad it really is." I said to Spyro, I actually would very much like to not go to the east, I don't know how I'd handle seeing what was supposed to be my homeland as a smoldering pile of rubble.

Spyro seemed to understand this. "Well your dad really wants to, I think it's only fair he gets to see what happened to his home. Who knows, maybe it isn't as bad as Terrador says it is?" Spyro suggested, yeah I sincerely doubted that Spyro. Why **wouldn't** Malefor burn the eastern territories down? He's the kind of evil bastard that would kick an already struggling dragon community while it was down. And he had made it very clear in the games that he hated dragonkind and wanted to "cleanse the earth" or something.

Me and Spyro joined dad and Lisa in the sky, "Okay, now that you two have gotten a feeling for your wings, it's time I took you two home." Dad said. Yeah, our home, or more accurately the smoldering pile of rubble that **used** to be our home.

"I think I should come to, in case you guys decide to stay, someone needs to inform the others if that's the case." Spyro said suddenly, I highly doubted that's why he really wanted to come, I think he really just wanted to see how bad the damage was for himself.

Dad seemed unsure though. "I don't know Spyro, us eastern dragons have been very distrustful of you westerners for years, I don't know how the others will react to you and I'd hate to see you get hurt if they get violent." Dad said.

However Spyro was undeterred. "I'll be fine Blaze, I can handle myself." he said, well yeah, you beat Malefor and saved the world, there would be cause for concern if you **couldn't **defend yourself. Dad reluctantly allowed Spyro to come with us and flew off to lead us back home to the east.

Me, Spyro, and Lisa flew a good distance behind dad as he lead us eastward. "Okay, why did you **really** want to come?" I asked him, not buying the story he told dad for a second.

Spyro sighed. "It was that obvious huh?" Spyro asked me to which me and Lisa both nodded. "I wanted to come because I don't know how bad the eastern territories are going to be, and I want to be there in case it's too much for you guys to handle. I mean, it **was** your homeland." Spyro explained. I noticed Spyro looked a bit guilty, like he somehow felt like whatever happened to the eastern territories was his fault.

Lisa seemed to pick up on this too. "Spyro are you okay?" She asked him.

Spyro paused for a moment, looking guiltily to the ground before responding. "I just can't help but feel like whatever happened to the eastern dragons was my fault. Malefor was laying waste to all those innocent dragons while me and Cynder were frozen solid. If I had stopped Malefor from being freed during the night of eternal darkness none of them would have gotten hurt." Spyro confessed.

Lisa gave him a sympathetic look. "It's not your fault Spyro, you had no way of knowing." Lisa said hoping to comfort the purple dragon. I got why Spyro felt the way he did, after all he was supposed to be the hero, the guy who stopped the evil dude from blowing things up, and he failed to do that when Malefor came back to ruin everyone's lives. But Lisa was right, there was nothing he could have done.

Spyro however clearly didn't see it that way. "It doesn't change the fact that the eastern dragons suffered and I didn't do anything to stop it." Spyro said sadly.

* * *

_**Later...**_

* * *

It took a painfully long time of flying but eventually dad swooped downward for a landing. That's when I realized something rather... important, I had no clue how to land, at all. Of course my instincts knew everything else about flying, but not the important part of being able to **land**! "Dwayne you're going in too fast! Slow down!" Spyro shouted at me.

But I wasn't able to heed his words as the ground rushed to make my acquaintance. However before I could splat onto the forest floor like a pancake something grabbed my tail, I craned my head back to see Spyro had managed to catch my tail before I became a permanent part of the eastern territories. "That... was too close." Spyro said, his speech a bit muffled since he had my tail in his mouth.

Spyro then put me down, Lisa landing a bit more gracefully than I did, although she did trip and fall. "I'm okay!" She said as she got up. We all then walked off to go find dad.

But when we did, we saw him standing, stiff as a board, and only when we got closer did we find out why.

The place was completely burnt and charred, nothing but dead trees and ashes. A few remains of what I assumed were once homes stood among the wreckage, it was a horrifying sight, this place was once my home, and now it was nothing but ashes, a macabre reminder of Malefor's campaign of destruction. Dad looked at the scene with pure horror in his eyes, his home was nothing but a shell of it's former self. Spyro approached him. "Blaze... I'm so sorry... maybe it's better we leave." Spyro said.

However dad shook his head. "I didn't want to believe him... I prayed that he was just exaggerating to get me to stay in Warfang... but I should have known better than to think Malefor would have spared my people from his wrath." Dad said, his eyes beginning to water. Me and Lisa just stayed silent, Lisa was horrified at what she was seeing, and so was I. I was beginning to think we were the only eastern dragons left.

"Blaze?! Is that you?!"

We all turned to see someone coming towards us, it was an eastern dragon I could tell by his horse-like dark purple mane. His underbelly shared the same color, his scales were an ice blue color, and his horns resembled translucent purple icicles. He had a tale blade that looked like it was also made of purple ice but it formed a sort of arrowhead or something. Dad lit up when he saw him approaching. "Tundra! You're alive!" Dad said as the two approached one another excitedly.

The western dragon, who I guess went by Tundra, seemed just as surprised and happy to see dad as dad was to see him. "And here I thought The Sorceress had killed you so many years ago." He said. Dad looked around. "Are there any others?" He asked. Tundra however grew a sad expression. "Not many, only about a dozen of us survived Malefor's attacks. And most of them have fallen ill due to our poor living conditions." Tundra explained.

Spyro then stepped forward. "Blaze, I think it might be a good idea if we take them back to Warfang, I know your people don't trust us western dragons, but anything has to be better than... this." Spyro said.

Dad clearly didn't like the idea, and was about to argue but Tundra stopped him. "No Blaze, the purple dragon is right. There's nothing left here anymore, we're low on food, we have no shelter, Malefor left us nothing here but a few charred remnants of what once was. I don't trust the western dragons anymore than you do, but we cannot go on like this. We have no choice but to unify the dragon races." Tundra said.

Dad looked around at all the ruins, he couldn't argue with him, not unless he was in **serious** denial. No one really could. "Where are the others? Can you take me to them?" Dad asked Tundra, Tundra sighed and led us to were the others were.

Apparently it wasn't far, as everyone was gathered in the forest surrounding the burnt village. And man, were they in a bad way, a lot of them were so skinny you could see their rib cages, others were pale as ghosts from sickness. It was a horrible sight to behold. And I thought dad looked bad when we found him, it was a miracle these people were still alive! "By the ancestors..." Dad said.

Tundra turned to face dad. "We can't keep going like this, if the western dragons are willing to accept us into their city, then we have to go, otherwise I fear we all may perish." Tundra said.

I chanced a look at Lisa, her eyes were watering, the sight of these dragons in such horrible condition was too much for her to bear. Dad noticed this, and made a decision. "Alright, we'll go to the west." He reluctantly agreed.

* * *

**A/N- Well... looks like the eastern dragons weren't as healthy as Blaze was hoping... can our heroes get these wayward souls to Warfang?**


	13. The Joys of Migration

**Chapter 13: The Joys of Migration**

* * *

So we had all agreed to take all the eastern dragons to Warfang, but we had a problem, a lot of them were either too weak or too sick to fly. And Warfang was quite a bit away from where we were. So we had to take some time to figure out just how in the hell we were gonna get these dragons all the way to the west. And we'd better do it soon, some of these guys looked like they were gonna keel over any second.

I meanwhile, just looked on at the wreckage that was once my home village. The home I'd never know... I felt horrible about it despite the fact I didn't remember anything about it. I heard a soft crunching sound come from behind me. "It's hard to look at isn't it?" I turned to see dad sitting next to me.

I looked back at the ruins of the eastern village. "There are so many things about my past I'll never get to know... what this village was like before... this..." I told him. It wasn't the only thing I wanted to know about my past I'd never get to, there was another thing I wish I could have known. "...and the mother I never got to meet." I added.

Dad wrapped a comforting wing around me. "I know son, not a day goes by where I don't miss your mother, her kind voice, her gentle face, I'll never forget the day you hatched, the joy in her eyes as she saw you for the first time. She loved you with all her heart, and so do I." He told me. As if to heighten the mood or something it began to rain. "However, she's still with us Dwayne, a dragon never truly dies, their spirit lives on, becoming one with nature, and I know she watches over us now, guiding us through our struggles, and reveling in our triumphs." Dad told me.

I tried my best not to cry, but I failed miserably. All my life I wanted to know who my parents were, and I only got to meet one of them. Dad held me close, trying to comfort me. "There there, it's okay..." He said as he did this.

"Blaze!"

We both turned to see Tundra come up to us, Spyro by his side. "We have a bit of an issue." He said, me and dad both raised an eyebrow. "Spyro and I had told the others of our plans, and well, some of them aren't so thrilled about it. And now the survivors are fighting among themselves over it." Tundra elaborated.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

"I'm not going anywhere near those westerners! They got our eggs KILLED during the raid!" One of the many riled eastern dragons protested. "But we can't stay here! We'll all die if we keep going on like this!" Another dragon argued. This was getting out of hand! Tundra and Spyro had left to get dad and Dwayne, leaving me, a twelve year old girl, to try to calm down several enraged and ornery dragons.

Suffice to say, this wasn't as easy as I would hope. "Guys stop! Warfang isn't so bad!" I pleaded with the dragons. However of course it did little to calm them down as they just kept arguing with each other.

"Those fools can't save us! They could barely even save themselves during the war!"

"But we need to go! They have food there! Shelter! And medicine! Things we lack!"

"How can we trust the western dragons?! They're the reason we're in this condition in the first place!"

It was getting worse and worse by the minute! It wouldn't be long before they all came to blows and we had a dragon mosh pit on our hands! Aw man, where are they? "Guys please! I know you don't like the western dragons, but it's safer there than here were you're all getting sick and dying!" I pleaded again.

"Dammit we should listen to her! She's been there and says it's safer there! What reason do we have not to believe her?"

"She's just a child! What would she know of the struggles we've gone through? Or what those pampered westerners had cost us?!"

"And things will only get worse if we stay here! At least in Warfang we'll have a chance to survive!"

Aw man, this was gonna devolve into a brawl any second now! Spyro and Tundra can't get back soon enough!

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone stopped arguing and turned to see Spyro walk up to them. He was really mad too, "I understand you have a lot of mistrust in us western dragons after what happened to you, but believe me, we're just trying to do what's best for what's left of your people! And that means taking you all to Warfang where you'll have plenty of food and warm shelter! And where your sick can get treatment!" Spyro lashed out at them.

However one of the dragons just scoffed at him. "So says the westerner." He sneered. Gee, and I thought dad was needlessly hostile and condescending towards western dragons.

Spyro glared at him. "Is your grudge with my kind really worth getting the rest of your's killed? Because I'll tell you right now, it's not. Look at yourselves, you can't keep going on like this! You may be willing to let your fellow eastern dragons die over this stupid grudge, but I'm not!" Spyro snapped right back. I noticed several of the dragons who were arguing not to go start to rethink their position.

But not the one he was arguing with, no he seemed dead set on staying where he was. "And how do you suppose you'll get us all there oh "great" purple dragon? We have dragons too weak from hunger and illness to fly! And Warfang is thousands of miles away! We'll never make it there!" He rebutted.

You know, he had a point, how the hell were we going to get them to Warfang? Walk the whole way? Somehow I saw that going very badly. The dragon seemed satisfied with Spyro's lack of an answer. "That's what I thought." He said in triumph.

However suddenly dad and Dwayne came in. "It's not wise to underestimate the purple dragon, he's done far more in his short life than you ever will." Dad said stepping in.

"And how do you suggest we get our people to Warfang Blaze? Seriously, enlighten me, I'd love to know!" The dragon snapped at him, clearly not willing to listen to anyone about this.

Dad just glared at him. "We walk, and the sick and weak will be carried on the backs of those who have the strength to do so." Dad said plainly.

"You're mad! We'll never make it!" The dragon snapped back at him. "Funny, I thought the westerners were the ones who were pampered, don't tell me you can't handle a little walking?" Dad replied mockingly before turning to the others. "Alright listen up! Any dragon who has enough strength left in them will carry as many of the sick and weak they can. If you can make the walk to Warfang, do so, I understand you have mixed feelings about trusting yourselves to the western dragons, but you'll just have to put them aside, for this is the only way we're going to survive!" Dad said.

* * *

The dragons began to do as Blaze asked them, those who had enough strength left carried the sick and hungry ones over their backs, even Blaze himself took a few. I didn't know how well his plan would work, Warfang was quite a distance away, but he seemed confident we could make it. "Spyro, I want you to lead the way, you're the most powerful among us, and with these dragons on our backs we may be vulnerable to attacks from those who'd wish us harm. I'm trusting you to protect these dragons, I'm sure it won't be a difficult task for the great purple dragon." Blaze told me. I looked back at all of the eastern dragons, all of the dragons I failed to protect from Malefor, were now relying on me to lead them to a better life.

I looked back to Blaze. "You can count on me." I told him confidently. It'd be a long journey, but it was one we had to travel if these dragons wanted any chance to survive.

Blaze nodded. "I know I can." He told me before motioning for me to begin leading them to Warfang, I did so, with everyone following closely behind.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

He was gone! I had gone to try to find Spyro so we could discuss this whole Bianca thing but I couldn't find him anywhere! Spyro **never** left without telling anyone! (He wasn't home either I checked) I swear if Bianca did something to him I'll fear breath her into **oblivion**! I then saw those two cheetah brothers come up to me. "Hello Cynder... what has you all riled?" Darius asked me.

I didn't even stop I just kept on walking. "Spyro's missing and I'm trying to find him." I growled as I kept walking. But of course, Taven being Taven decided to follow me. "Really? How long has been missing for?" Taven asked me.

I really didn't feel like dealing with Taven right now, I wasn't in the mood, if I was in the mood to be pestered by annoying people I would have let Sparx come with me... "I haven't seen him all day, he wasn't at his house and it doesn't seem like he's in the temple either." I explained, knowing full well he wasn't going to stop nagging me until I told him.

Taven kept following me until we came across the gardens, but none of our eastern dragon friends were there, which was odd because this was where Blaze spent most of his time. "It seems as though Spyro isn't the only one missing." Taven commented. First Spyro vanishes, and now Blaze and his family? What was going on here?

"They left for the eastern regions."

We all turned around to see Bianca come up to us, I gave her a skeptical look. "And why would they do that?" I asked not even trying to hide that I didn't like her. I think I was pretty justified in my distrust of her on the count of that she was trying to **kill** us only yesterday!

Bianca seemed to ignore my hostility as she just calmly walked over to us. "Because Blaze wanted to see it, and Spyro went with them, before you ask, no I don't know why, he just did." Bianca explained. Yeah how convenient...

Darius stepped forward. "Perhaps they went to see if any of the eastern dragons survived the war?" Darius suggested, alright, that made sense, I knew Spyro well enough to know he'd go along if there was any chance someone needed help. Taven then perked up. "Perhaps they might need our help! Surely they cannot bring all of those dragons here on their own!" Taven said.

That was a stupid idea Taven. "Yeah and how do you suppose we do that Taven? It's not like the eastern territories are right next door! They're thousands of miles away!" I pointed out, Taven was such an airhead sometimes I swear!

Bianca then spoke up. "I can teleport us there, but I should warn you, I have a bit of... trouble with teleportation spells." Bianca suggested.

I then turned to her. "You expect us to trust you enough to use a teleport spell on us?! How do we know you won't just zap us over a volcano or something?" I snapped at her, I knew better than to trust her, certainly not enough to _transport _us with her magic!

"Because if I killed you with the spell, I'd kill myself too since I'm coming with you!" She pointed out. Okay, I'll admit, it was a stupid question. Yeah Cynder, the mage is so going to kill herself along with all of you!

So we all agreed to go along with Bianca's teleportation plan, however she made it very **very** clear she wasn't too good at it. And even told us she had once teleported herself into a lake. But she insisted we'd be fine, for her sake, she better be right...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

The walk was a **lot** longer than I thought it'd be, Spyro and I led the pack, dad telling me he may need back up just in case, and of course since me and Lisa were the only other combat capable dragons here that didn't have a sick dragon on their backs, we were elected. "Man, how much farther? I don't know how much longer my legs can go." I whined.

"A **lot** farther, we're still in the eastern territories." Spyro said, aw man! We've been walking for hours! And we weren't even half way there! But what could we do? We couldn't leave the eastern dragons here, they'd die. So I just had to suck it up and keep going. "Oh no." Spyro said as he came to a stop.

We all turned to see a giant river right in our path, it had to be at least thirty feet across! "There's no way we can cross it, we'll have to find another way around." Spyro said

However dad shook his head. "We don't have time Spyro, I doubt these dragons can go on much longer as it is." Dad explained to him. Well, this sucks, the eastern dragons defeated because a stupid river just **had** to be in the way! Why does everything always have to go wrong?

* * *

**A/N- Will our heroes get the eastern dragons to Warfang? Or will they sink the party like the wagon on The Oregon Trail?**

**I'm going to warn you guys right now, I may not be posting chapters as frequently as I usually do, why you ask? My brother's starting a Role Play on Gaia and well, it's gonna require my attention. (Yes we roleplay on Gaia, what are YOU gonna do about it?) So if chapters aren't coming out as fast as usual, that's why.**


	14. Going Down The River

**Chapter 14: Going Down The River**

* * *

I just sat there, staring at the river that blocked our path, normally we would have just flown over it but we had several dragons who were carrying several others on their backs and weighing them down so they couldn't fly. Spyro stared at the river for a moment, thinking over his next move. "Maybe I could freeze the river with my ice breath?" Spyro suggested.

However I saw a flaw with that plan. "You sure you could make the ice thick enough to support everyone's weight?" I asked him. It was a simple question, and an important one too, since if Spyro's ice wasn't thick enough we'd have a dragon floating down the river, possibly taking several others with him/her.

Spyro thought it over for a moment. "I think I can, but it may take a while and a good chunk of my mana, but I think I can do it." Spyro said, we all stepped back and let Spyro go to work on the river, firing a constant stream of ice breath across the river. Tundra then stepped forward. "Perhaps it would be better if you had help purple dragon?" Tundra suggested before helping Spyro out with his own ice breath powers. Soon enough the river was frozen solid, along with any creature unfortunate enough to have been in the water as well.

Spyro then turned to face the group. "Okay, the river's frozen, however we need to be careful, I don't want to risk it breaking and sending one of you into the water. So we're going one at a time, me, Dwayne, and Lisa will go first since we're the lightest." Spyro explained to the group. The group said nothing, I guess they were just willing to do whatever the purple dragon said at this point.

Spyro then motioned for me and Lisa to follow him across, the whole time my eyes were fixed on the ice below me, I was trying to watch for any cracks or anything that would signal a chance it would break, but luckily no such thing appeared and all three of us crossed safely. "Okay! Now remember, one at a time. Those who have sick or weak on their backs should go first, everyone else can follow afterward." Spyro instructed the eastern dragons. They all seemed hesitant to try it however, I really couldn't blame them really. But soon enough an eastern electric dragon who had another sick electric dragon on his back decided to brave the ice.

He cautiously stepped onto the frozen water, his claws clicking and clacking on the ice with every timid step he took. I could see how nervous he was by the expression on his face. But eventually he made it across safely. The dragon breathing a sigh of relief once he was on solid ground.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Bianca had used her transport spell on us, however she wasn't joking when she said she wasn't very good at it, because she managed to teleport us right into a bunch of trees. Me landing on one of the branches scaring the daylights out of a family of squirrels that lived inside the tree. I moved slowly down the branch to see if I could find any signs of the others. "Taven?! Darius?! Bianca?! You guys okay?" I shouted.

Suddenly I heard a very pathetic whimpering sound from above me, I looked up to see Darius clinging onto a tree branch for dear life and a terrified expression on his face. "Darius? Are you okay up there?" I asked him. He jumped at the sound of my voice, clearly not having noticed I was there until I spoke.

"So high... so very very high..." Darius whimpered. Oh you have got to be kidding me, Darius was afraid of heights wasn't he? I'd better get him down before he faints or something. I flew up to him and grabbed him by his dark blue cape thing and flew him to ground level, gently setting him on the forest floor. "Thank you Cynder.." Darius said to me.

Then suddenly Taven landed in front of us, snickering the whole way. "What's wrong brother? The tree too high for you so Cynder had to get you down?" Taven laughed. Darius glared at him as he got up off the grass.

Just then Bianca landed on the ground not too far from where me and Darius were, "Well, at least I didn't land us in a lake." She said mostly to herself as she brushed the pine needles out of her fur. She then turned to us. "So, shall we start our search?" She asked us. We all said nothing, just giving a simple nod before we set off to hopefully find Spyro and Blaze's family. Bianca better not be lying about them being here, or I couldn't guarantee she'd still have a head by tomorrow!

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

One by one the eastern dragons managed to cross the river safely. So far so good, we only had about three left. My dad, that jerk dragon from earlier (who **still** didn't seem to want to go given his body language) and Tundra. And since my dad was the only one left still carrying someone else he was up next. He stepped onto the ice, moving at a standard pace, I guess he figured since everyone else got across safely there was no need to be cautious. Everything seemed to be going well, I think we may actually be able to get everyone across!

_**Flap! Flap! Flap!**_

Why did I say that? You never say what could possibly go wrong! Because then something **does** go wrong! And in this case, a husk just so happened to find us, what it was doing **here** I had no clue, but it was a big one, it also looked like it used to be an eastern dragon given it's horribly mangled mess that was once it's mane. It's scales were pale to the point they almost looked white, and it zeroed right in on dad. It shot a fire ball right at the bridge, melting it instantly and sending dad and the poor sick dragon he was carrying right into the river.

I rushed to the river side, looking frantically for any sign of my father. "Dad?! DAD!" I cried, but I couldn't see him or the dragon he had been carrying. "DWAYNE BEHIND YOU!" I heard Spyro cry, but before I could react I was suddenly scooped up by the husk. I tried to squirm free of the undead dragon but it's grip was remarkably strong for a rotting corpse.

The husk then slowly craned it's head downward towards me, it's soulless white eyes fixed onto mine. It was horrifying to see one of them so close, I could actually see some of it's scales were loosened from decay and dangling loosely from it's face. I almost threw up at the grotesque sight. It then slammed me into the ground, keeping it's paws on my throat. It was trying to strangle me! I gasped desperately for air as the undead dragon applied pressure. I then noticed the husk mouthed something to me. I could only faintly hear it's voice but it was too quiet for me to understand what it was saying. God were these things creepy!

Suddenly the dragon was slammed with a giant fireball, I gasped for air the second the dragon was off my throat. "You okay?" I heard Spyro ask me, I nodded as I got up, but the husk was right back up as well. It then mouthed the same thing it had before at us, but once again I couldn't quite hear it.

I looked to Spyro. "Is it trying to... talk to us?" I asked him, he knew more about these things than I did, so he might know if they actually talk or if it's just being creepy.

Spyro kept his focus on the husk. "Husks don't talk Dwayne, they're just empty vessels full of dark magic, whatever it's trying to say is probably just nonsense." Spyro said, you know that didn't help make it less creepy Spyro, suddenly the husk shot a stream of fire at us, which we barely managed to dodge. The husk then swatted me with it's paw sending me towards the river. I slowly rose to my feet.

"DWAYNE!"

I turned my head to see dad was clinging to a rock, the dragon he had been carrying clutched in his front right leg. I rushed over, oh crap what do I do?! I can't reach him from here! And even if I could no way was I strong enough to carry both him **and** the sick dragon.

_**THWACK!**_

Suddenly that river was becoming a lot closer than I wanted it to, as the husk had taken advantage of my momentary distraction and swatted me into the river like a fly. I hit the water with a crash and found myself spinning out of control in the running waters. I couldn't even tell which was was up and which way was down anymore! I'm so screwed aren't I?

* * *

I watched in horror as the husk knocked Dwayne into the river, he was now floating down the river out of control, and I, his father, was helpless to save him! I forced my eyes shut, unable to watch as my only son tumbled down the river to his certain death, and me unable to stop it.

I then turned towards the riverside to see the dragon Spyro had a fight with earlier. He lowered his tail towards me. "Grab on!" He shouted to me. I moved the sick dragon towards the tail, the dragon wrapping it around his limp body before hoisting it onto dry land, he then lowered it down again. "Alright now you!" He told me.

However I shook my head. "My son is in that river! He'll die if I don't save him!" I shouted to him, I couldn't abandon Dwayne, not again. "Blaze he's gone! Now grab on before you lose your grip on the rock!" He shouted to me. However I let the rock go, hoping the river would take me to my son. "DAMMIT BLAZE!" The dragon shouted as I was carried away by the current.

I floated down the river trying desperately to keep my head above water so I could find any sign of Dwayne. I managed to see his tail pop out of the water for a second before vanishing beneath it again. I used all my strength to move myself towards the place I saw his tail emerge.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I didn't have time to worry about Dwayne as I still had the husk to deal with. Lisa had managed to find me and had joined in the fight. She and I kept on the undead dragon, hoping to end this fight quickly to go save Dwayne. However this husk wasn't going to go down easily as it kept getting lucky shots on me and Lisa. Lisa clearly had no combat experience at all, making things far more difficult for the both of us.

I kept hitting it with breath weapon after breath weapon but it just kept taking it. Dammit this thing just won't die! "Dammit! What does it take to put you down?!" I said before firing off more breath attacks. All the while I kept wondering why it was here, why would the Sorceress send a husk to the east? Or was it just a straggler that just so happened to find us? I really hoped it was the latter, getting these eastern dragons to Warfang was difficult enough without the Sorceress bothering us. I was beginning to tire, I couldn't go much longer, I had used a lot of my mana freezing that river, and now I was paying for it, big time! Lisa leaped in front of me and shot a fireball right in it's face knocking it back. She then turned and looked to me. "Spyro are you okay?" Lisa asked me, noticing how tired I was getting.

"I'll be fine, just keep on it!" I told her, I didn't want her worrying about me right now when we had a husk to fight, so I couldn't let on I was tiring or else she might get distracted worrying about me. I did my best to keep pace but my breath weapons were starting to weaken, I couldn't keep this up for much longer and this thing looked like it could keep going for hours. I had to find a way to end this fight soon or else Lisa's gonna be on her own!

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

We had searched the forest for what felt like hours, I was beginning to wonder if Spyro was really even here, or if Bianca was just leading us on a wild goose chase. However suddenly we happened upon a random group of eastern dragons just sort of standing there, all with panicked expressions on their faces. One of them rushed over to us the second he saw us. "What's going on here?!" I asked him as he closed the distance.

I looked back worriedly before turning back to me. "We're under attack! A husk found us! Took a poor young fire dragon right from where he stood! And now his sister and the purple dragon are trying to fight it off!" He explained... purple dragon? So Spyro **was** here!

I looked to the eastern dragon. "Which way did they go?" I asked him, he pointed to his right and I rushed in that direction, I had a gut feeling Spyro needed my help.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I was out of mana, I learned this when I tried to use a fire attack and instead just blew air. This was bad! No way Lisa could take this husk on her own, she was so much smaller and knew little about combat, not to mention she was clearly running low on mana herself now. All I had left was my physical attacks. But somehow I doubted biting and clawing would be much help with a husk, or all that healthy for me considering it was a rotting corpse that was ancestors know how long since dead. But I couldn't risk this thing killing Lisa! I had to keep fighting!

However suddenly a strong gust of wind sent the husk skidding backward, me and Lisa turned to see Cynder of all dragons come in. "You alright?" She asked me, what was she doing here?! How'd she know we **were** here?! Well better not look a gift horse in the mouth Spyro, because if she hadn't arrived you **and** Lisa would be doomed.

"Yeah, but I have no mana left." I explained. Suddenly I saw the cheetah brothers and Bianca come running in. Well at least Cynder hadn't come alone. "This husk just won't die! Me and Lisa have thrown everything we have at it and it just keeps going!" I said, usually these husks died pretty easily, but not this one, this one just kept taking it.

Bianca turned and examined the husk as Lisa tried to fight it off. "It's an advanced husk." She said, we all looked at her, none of us knowing what the hell that was supposed to mean. "It's a husk made with stronger magic than the usual brand, created by The Sorceress herself since she's the only mage I know of who's magic is strong enough to create one." She elaborated, well that's no good, The Sorceress could apparently create even **stronger** husks than her students!

Cynder then stepped forward. "How do we kill it then?" She asked her. Bianca turned to us. "Keep it busy, I'm gonna see if I can rip the dark magic right out of it, it's a lot easier than trying to kill it the old fashioned way." Bianca said, everyone then sprang into action. Taven and Cynder joining Lisa in the fray, Darius must not be much of a fighter as he just stood there like a dead fish. And I was pretty useless since I had no mana left.

Bianca then began to chant something under her breath, a ring of dark energy surrounding her suddenly. I could feel the power of the spell from where I was standing. She then formed an energy ball of some kind in her hands. "Okay, now I need to get close enough to suck the magic out of it!" She told me and Darius. Me and him moved forward, acting as shields for Bianca so she could keep her focus on the spell. Cynder and Taven both managed to pin it down so Bianca could remove the magic from it.

Bianca shoved the energy ball right into it's chest, it let out a shriek as she did this, after a while the husk stopped writhing and just fell limply to the ground, completely lifeless. Bianca then removed the ball from it's chest, the ball now having a dark cloud of smoke inside it. "The Sorceress taught me this trick, in case the husks ever became a threat to us." Bianca said before dissolving both the magic ball and the dark magic inside it. Man, was I glad that was over...

Suddenly out the corner of my eye I saw someone approaching us, it was Blaze, and he had Dwayne on his back. Everyone rushed over to him, he looked worn, he could barely even stand! "Blaze are you alright?!" I asked him.

Blaze looked at me. "Forget me! Dwayne... he's not moving..." He said, clearly panicked. Taven picked Dwayne off of Blaze's back and laid him down on the grass, Dwayne wasn't moving, just like Blaze had said, Taven put his ear against Dwayne's chest. "He's alive, but barely." Taven said.

However Cynder noticed something. "Guys... look." She said, we all looked to see Dwayne was bleeding from his forehead, it was hard to notice because of his red scales, but it was pretty clear when you looked close enough. "He must have hit his head on something when he was in the river." I said. Blaze was trying not to break down, but I could tell by his face seeing his son like this was hard for him.

Bianca then knelt down in front of Dwayne. "I can heal him." She said, Blaze instantly snapped up. "If you think I'm going to let you use your black magic on my son-" He began before Bianca sharply looked up at him. "Look at him Blaze! He's barely alive, he has a head wound and who knows how many internal ones!" She insisted.

Blaze glared at Bianca, clearly unwilling to trust her. But Bianca wouldn't back down. "I know you don't trust me Blaze, and you have every right not to, but is that distrust really worth losing your son? I've never done right by you, I know that, please let me do right by you and your children this one time." She pleaded with him.

Blaze still had a skeptical look, but when he looked at his injured son, he relented, and nodded, silently giving Bianca permission to heal him. Bianca then put her hands on Dwayne, and began to chant something under her breath, Dwayne's body began to glow green, after a while the glowing stopped but Dwayne was still motionless. However he soon began to stir. "What happened?" He asked groggily.

Suddenly Blaze embraced his son. "Dwayne! Are you alright? How do you feel?" He asked him. Dwayne thought for a moment before answering. "I'm fine dad... I feel fine, just a little tired is all." He said.

Blaze nodded, tears forming in his eyes. "I'm just glad you're okay." He said before turning to Bianca. "Thank you, thank you for saving my son, perhaps it's time I put what happened between us in the past..." Blaze said. Bianca nodded, finally able to get Blaze's trust.

* * *

_**Later...**_

* * *

We soon rejoined the other eastern dragons. "I don't know Spyro, I've never teleported quite so many people before..." Bianca said to me, I had suggested teleporting the dragons to Warfang after she told us she had teleported Cynder and the others with her here, but Bianca claimed she wasn't very good at it. "Well it's better than having them walk the whole way." I told her.

With a deep breath Bianca began to cast the spell, everyone making sure to be as close to Bianca as possible. And with a simple woosh we were all suddenly in Warfang... or rather, in a fountain in Warfang. Well at least we were **in** Warfang. Everyone in town looked at us like we had three heads, what **must** they be thinking of the giant cluster of dragons, cheetah's and a rabbit mage standing in the fountain? Whatever, at least now the eastern dragons could start a new life here and get treatment for their sick and weak... that's all that mattered right now.

* * *

**A/N- Oh Bianca, will you ever get that spell right? *Cheesy 80's sitcom music***

**I'm sorry this one was so late! But like I said last chapter my brother's starting a role play and he wanted me to help out with it so I've been distracted with that all day.**

**Oh my god, I made a story that's gonna break 14 chapters! Take shelter little ones! The end times are upon us! *screams and runs in circles***


	15. Fun With Hunting

**Chapter 15: Fun With Hunting**

* * *

We had taken the eastern dragons to the temple, the guardians would want to know we had found them after all, Dwayne still laid limply on Blaze's back, fast asleep. The villagers all looked at the small group of eastern dragons with both confusion and awe. The eastern dragons themselves seemed uneasy about being in the city again. I couldn't blame them considering what had happened to them all the last time they were here.

We all entered the temple, and right there to great us was a rather upset looking Terrador, I just realized that I had left the temple without telling **anyone**. Oops... "There you are! Me, Cyril, and Volteer had been looking for you all day! You'd best have an-" Terrador began to lecture me before he saw the eastern dragons walk in and stopped dead in his tracks.

Blaze then approached Terrador. "We went to the east to see what had become of my people. And you were right Terrador, Malefor really did leave nothing there, the once great eastern dragons reduced to savaging and living in the remains of a once proud village." Blaze said with a clear hint of sadness. The fact his people had been suffering for so long hitting him hard.

Terrador sighed. "I'm sorry Blaze, but at least a good number of your kin survived the war to see a brighter future. I promise you your people will find peace here once The Sorceress is dealt with." Terrador said trying to lift Blaze's spirits a little. But Blaze just silently nodded and walked off, I tried to follow but Terrador stopped me. "I think it's best we give Blaze time to deal with what he's learned Spyro, he saw his home in ruins, and his people in squalor, that's a lot to take in for a dragon like him." Terrador told me, I figured Terrador was right and complied.

Suddenly Cyril and Volteer had found us, stopping dead in their tracks when the saw the eastern dragons, the sight answering any questions they may have had about where we had disappeared to. "My, and here I thought the eastern dragons were all deceased." Volteer said in astonishment.

Cyril examined the group, "I see that three years of living in rubble has taken it's toll on you all, you look absolutely dreadful." he commented, Cyril these people have been suffering for years after losing their homes and possibly several loved ones, I don't think they need to be insulted too.

The green dragon from earlier took offense to Cyril's statement. "And who do we have to thank for that huh guardian? Malefor was **your** problem you brought **our** way!" He spat. Man this guy was just making all kinds of friends today...

Cyril predictably didn't take too kindly to that remark. "You best watch your tongue! We both suffered a great deal from Malefor's war! You should be grateful Spyro and the others saved your people and brought them somewhere with food and shelter!" Cyril snapped back, oh boy, this won't end well.

"Oh! I should be **grateful** should I? Grateful the lazy guardians had their purple whelpling fix the mess **you** put us in?!" The dragon snapped right back. Whelpling? "That "whelpling" is the only reason you still have an earth to walk upon you ungrateful twat! You should be thankful he bothered to save your ass instead of leaving you to rot in the ruins of your village!" Cyril growled. These two were going to come to blows if someone didn't step in and stop this.

"Tremor that's enough! The ice guardian, arrogant as he is, is right, that purple dragon is the only reason we still live in the first place! You should show him more respect than that!" Tundra stepped in. Cyril of course didn't like the arrogant comment from Tundra given his expression, but knew saying anything would only make this worse than it already was. Well at least I knew the dragon's name now, Tremor, I don't know what Tremor's problem was, he seemed the most unwilling to trust the guardians, even more so than Blaze was when we first brought him here. Tremor just rolled his eyes and Tundra's comment before walking off.

Volteer then approached the sick dragons we had brought with us. "I think these poor souls should be tended to with the utmost of haste, who knows how long they've gone without proper medical care." Volteer said before going off to get them spirit gems and medicine. However he stopped when he passed me. "Spyro would you and Lisa be so kind as to get these poor dragons some food, it looks as though it's been a long time since either of them had anything to eat." Volteer said, I looked over to the dragons again, yeah they definitely looked famished, some of them were so thin you could see their bones.

I nodded and motioned for Lisa to follow me, hopefully we could find something in the forest big enough to feed them all. I don't know how much longer some of these eastern dragons could go without food...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I set Dwayne down upon the soft grass of the gardens. He just laid there, lost in slumber, that incident in the river had taken a lot out of him, I almost lost him due to my foolishness, it was I that had inadvertently provided the distraction for the husk to knock him into the river in the first place. I laid down next to my son, the son I had sent away for 12 long years, I had no idea if he had ever forgiven me for doing that or not, in all honestly I had trouble forgiving myself for doing it. He had grown so much since the day I sent him away, he resembled his father more than his mother in both appearance and spirit, he had my determination and brash nature, but he had his mother's kind heart.

So much had changed since I had sent him away, I never once thought I would have to **live** in the western dragon city, but now me and my kin were forced to do so, our own home nothing but ash and painful reminders of Malefor's evil. "I'm sorry Dwayne... for everything I put you and your sister through..." I said softly, a single tear falling from my cheek. I swore to myself the day they found me that I would make amends for what I did to them, and I had no intentions on abandoning that vow. I would do my best to be the father he and Lisa had longed for all those years they spent in that human orphanage... no matter what it took.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

"We have to what?!" Lisa exclaimed as I led her through the forest. Humans apparently weren't hunters given Lisa's absolute repulsion at the idea of killing an animal for food. "Well Lisa, we dragons eat meat, and well, they're meat." I said to her, she then looked at the two deer I had tracked down and intended to kill. "But... they didn't do anything to us..." Lisa said. I face palmed, good thing Sparx wasn't here, I highly doubted he'd let something like this go without a good mocking.

"Lisa... we have to kill animals to eat, it's just how things work." I explained to her, I get that she once thought she was human and apparently they didn't kill their own food so she was conflicted with killing the deer, but this was a basic part of being a dragon she needed to get used to, heck even Ember was able to hunt, sorta, she wasn't too good at actually _catching_ her prey but she didn't have qualms with trying. Lisa looked sadly at the two deer again. "But, what if they have babies?" She asked, I groaned and hit my head against the fallen tree we were hiding behind. Ancestors give me strength...

I then turned to her. "If we don't then those starving dragons will die Lisa! I think two dumb deer are a small price to pay for the lives of several **starving** dragons!" I snarled at her, I didn't want to be mean to her, but this was kinda dumb, hopefully after a while of being a dragon she'd get used to the concept of hunting... at least I hope so...

I slowly stalked the two grazing animals, Lisa staying right where she was, looked like I was going to be doing this on my own. I positioned myself to pounce, just a quick snap of the neck should do the trick...

* * *

I couldn't watch, my favorite video game character was about to viciously murder two poor unsuspecting deer! I should have known we'd end up having to hunt animals eventually, I mean these sharp teeth we had weren't just for show, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I jumped when I heard the sound of the deer squealing as Spyro bit into it's neck, the other bolted for it's life the second the purple dragon claimed the life of it's friend. "Lisa! Get the other one before he gets away!" Spyro barked at me.

I didn't want to, I really didn't, but I kept thinking back to what Spyro said, about how those poor dragons would die if we didn't get enough food for them. I took a deep breath and flew after the fleeing deer. I caught up to the animal soon enough and latched onto it's neck, I closed my eyes as I sunk my teeth into it, I couldn't believe I was doing this, this poor deer let out a horrible sound as it fell to the ground and writhed in horrible agony. I just went to work almost like I was on auto pilot, my dragon instincts kicking in. And with a disturbing crack the deer's neck snapped like a kit-kat and it was dead. I couldn't fight back the tears, unable to fathom what I had just done to this poor animal.

Spyro walked over to me, dragging the other deer by the leg in his mouth. He then released it to talk to me. "You gonna be okay?" He asked me. He noticed how upset I was about my first kill. "Lisa, it's not a bad thing you don't want to kill living creatures, but this deer needed to die so those dragons could live. You just helped me save their lives by killing that deer, doesn't that count for something?" Spyro asked me. He had a point, it didn't make it any less horrible, the poor thing still died in horrible agony, but at least those dragons would have something to eat. "It get's easier with time... once you learn how to kill them quicker and less painfully it gets easier to live with, trust me." Spyro added.

I nodded with a sniffle, I hoped he was right, I didn't want to have to do this again, but knew I would have to, it wasn't like back in the Human Realms where you could go to the grocery store and buy meat already prepared, we had to hunt it ourselves here, which meant I'd have to get over this guilt over killing these deer eventually. "Come on, we should get these to the temple before wild animals try to scavenge them from us." Spyro said going back to dragging the dead deer, I grabbed the other one in my own mouth, dragging it along the grass, all the while thinking of how gross this was... man being a dragon is going to take a **lot** of getting used to.

* * *

_**Later at the Temple...**_

* * *

I woke up to the sound of something being dropped next to me, I opened my eyes to suddenly come face to face with the dead carcass of what I think was a buffalo. I screamed and cowered away from the dead animal, I then heard chuckling, looking up to see dad snickering at me. "What? You've never seen an animal carcass before?" Dad asked me, acting like this wasn't the least bit messed up.

I slowly got up. "What the hell?! You don't just drop a dead animal in front of someone like that!" I snapped, what the hell dad?! Who **does** that?! I then began to realize why he had done this... he was gonna make me eat that buffalo wasn't he? "Have you and Lisa eaten since you got here?" He asked me, raising an eyebrow.

Come to think of it, no, I hadn't. Weird you'd think I would have been hungry at least once during the what? Three days I'd been here? I guess dragons could go longer without food than humans. "N... no not really..." I said timidly, I kept my eyes on the dead buffalo, knowing full well I was gonna have to eat that thing very soon, and oh god, was I **not** looking forward to that.

Dad then pushed the dead buffalo closer to me. "You should eat Dwayne, after what happened at the river you need to keep your strength up." Dad said, confirming that I was indeed expected to eat this thing, oh man... why me? Being a dragon was kinda okay until now, when instead of having already prepared meat to shove in my face I had to eat a buffalo, **raw**, and still covered in fur to boot. "Is something wrong?" Dad asked me.

Oh man, what will he think of me if I tell him the truth? Well, I'd better let him know. "I'm sorry, it's just, back in the human realms, our meats were... well... pre prepared..." I said. I saw dad grow a very unimpressed look, yeah I should have figured he'd look down on me for being a prissy little human who was too much of a sissy to eat like a dragon. "I see your time in the human realms has softened you considerably. I had no idea humans were such... fickle creatures. But you're going to have to get used to the way we dragons do things Dwayne, or else you won't survive here for very long." Dad explained, yeah I figured that, not eating tended to kill you eventually.

So, I had no choice but to bite the bullet... or rather, buffalo. I closed my eyes as I slowly sunk my teeth into the carcass, the taste of blood and fur wasn't too appealing. But the meat itself was a lot better than it had any right to be. I swallowed the meat. "It's um... an acquired taste..." I said. Man I must sound like such a sissy to dad right now. He'd never been human, so he'd been eating like this his whole life just like any other dragon, so I could understand him not getting why I was acting this way.

However when I looked at him he had a very calm expression. "You'll get used to it Dwayne, just don't eat the whole thing, I'm sure your sister is going to need food too." Dad said, oh you don't have to worry about that dad, I wasn't even sure I wanted to take another bite, let alone wolf the whole thing down. I decided to take this time to ask him something. "Dad, did I have a name before you sent me away?" I asked him, it was something I had been meaning to ask him since we found him, but never really got the chance to until now.

Dad shook his head. "We never really got the chance to. Usually we eastern dragons don't name our children until they learn to speak, which you never learned to before we had to send you away... besides, you've gone by your human names all your lives, I see no sense in changing them now." Dad said. Okay... **why** they waited until I could talk to name me was weird, what did they call me before then? _"Hey you there"_?or_ "That kid there"_? But hey, at least I didn't have to get used to being called a different name. "Why do you ask?" He then asked me.

I took time to swallow my second mouthful of buffalo before responding. "Just curious." I said truthfully. "I just figured it would be nice to know more about my life before I was sent away." I added. Dad gave me a sad look. But then he grew a warm smile. "You were a very adventurous little hatchling, I remember me and your mother had to chase you all over the village after you sneaked out of our den." Dad said, I pictured a little dragon me running all over the village as several dragons tried to catch me like a bunch of football players going after the ball carrier. "Your mother used to take you into the forest sometimes, she said you loved the beauty that the forest had to offer, but in truth I think she just wanted to share her love for woodland life with you." Dad then added, a hint of sorrow in his voice.

"Your mother loved the forest, the plants, the little animals that lived within it... I never understood it myself, a plant was a plant to me and the only animals I ever paid any heed to were the ones I hunted for food, but your mother always saw something more in them." He continued. It was very clear how much dad missed mom by the tone of his voice and how he stared off to one lone flower poking out of the ground. "I'm sorry you and your sister never got to meet her Dwayne... I know she would have done better to make your transition back here easier than I am." He then said looking at me.

I looked away for a moment, I didn't really mean to bring it here, to remind him of how much he missed her. "It's not your fault dad." I told him. Dad looked at me in shock, like he expected me to say it was all his fault or something. "I know you did all you could to keep us all safe. Even mom." I told him. I still had a bit of mixed feelings about dad given what he'd done to me and Lisa, but I couldn't find it in myself to hate him, it was so clear that he just wanted to be a good father at the end of the day. He was stubborn, brash, and could hold a grudge longer than anyone else, but he was well meaning, and he cared... and that was enough for me. Dad smiled, "Thank you Dwayne, it means a lot to me to hear that from you." He told me.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

It was pretty clear those dragons had been hungry seeing how quickly they tore into those deer carcasses. I think most were just happy to have **something** to eat at last. However I still felt a bit... uneasy after having to lug a dead animal all the way back to the dragon temple. Something that Taven quickly picked up on. "Lisa? Are you going to be alright? You look a bit pale." Taven asked me.

I nodded. "Y..yeah... I'm just not used to... dragging dead things." I said, Taven just gave a warm chuckle and patted my head. "You should have seen Darius when we hunted our first animal, he fainted the second he pierced the animal's flesh." Taven said with a laugh, even I couldn't help but laugh at that. Even **I** didn't pass out like an old lady when I killed that deer.

Darius however was far less amused. "I was only eight!" He exclaimed trying to defend himself. Everyone just kept laughing though, Spyro, Cynder, even Bianca couldn't help but giggle at the image of Darius fainting after seeing only a little blood. Darius just huffed and crossed his arms, clearly embarrassed by the whole thing...

* * *

**A/N- I don't want to make it a habit to post these chapters so late, but I've been busy with... things. Ah well, at least I got to have a little fun with the characters instead of beating the pudding out of them... that sounds really bad doesn't it?**

**Hell I'm just impressed I'm getting this thing beyond 15 chapters, usually I've ran out of plot ideas by now... **


	16. The Dragon Duel

**Chapter 16: The Dragon Duel**

* * *

Me and Lisa had a bit of trouble getting used to the idea of eating raw meat, but dad insisted this was how things were with dragons, I thought Lisa was about to be sick given the expression she had on her face the whole time. But she and I managed to eat our fill eventually, I guess a few days without food had made us willing to scarf down just about anything.

And no sooner did we finish eating did Terrador come walking into the gardens, Dad got up and approached the earth guardian. "How are the others? Are they improving?" Dad asked him.

Terrador nodded. "Your people have been fed and their sick are being treated as we speak. Their very fortunate you found them when you did, doubtless they would have perished if they had kept living in the conditions they were." Terrador explained, my dad let out a sigh of relief, glad that his fellow eastern dragon's conditions were improving. "However there's one thing I need to ask of you." Terrador then added.

Dad blinked and tilted his head, Terrador paused for a moment, as if debating asking him what he was about to ask him. "As you're well aware we currently lack a fire guardian, and the young fire dragons spoke highly of your teachings. I was wondering if you'd be interested in helping us teach the young dragons of Warfang? I know you have issues with us, and I'll understand if you refuse, but these fire dragons need a teacher, and you seem to be the best option." Terrador asked him.

Dad stood still as a statue, his face unchanged. I couldn't tell if he was considering the offer or getting set to lay Terrador out flat. Knowing dad either was possible. "Spyro seems perfectly capable of using fire, can he not teach them?" Dad then asked. Terrador shook his head. "Spyro may be the great purple dragon of legend, but he is no teacher. He's the one that suggested to me that you teach the fire dragons in the first place." Terrador answered. Well seeing how far he got with Flame, I could see why Terrador would think that.

Dad thought it over, "Alright, I'll teach them. But only because I fear they may need their abilities with The Sorceress targeting us." Dad said. Terrador nodded and they both walked off. Me and Lisa decided to go to the Dojo, knowing we probably needed to go there to learn with the others, we were good, but we weren't masters, not by a long shot.

* * *

_**Later In The Dragon Dojo...**_

* * *

Me and Lisa were a bit disheartened to see none of the young dragons there were easterners, me and her had sorta hoped at least **some** of the young eastern dragons survived the war but I guess not. Spyro and Cynder found the two of us in no time, approaching the two of us. "I see your dad agreed to teach the fire dragons." Spyro commented, noticing my dad doing just that.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm kinda surprised he did given his grudge with the guardians." I replied. It was still kinda bugging me that he still had a grudge with them, although at least it seemed to improve over time, he wasn't constantly giving them dirty looks and was actually willing to talk to them now. Although he still seemed to distrust them. "So, you guys just come over for small talk?" I asked, nice Dwayne, very subtle. Not rude and blunt at all...

However they didn't call me out on it. Instead Cynder looked to Lisa. "I was actually thinking of teaching Lisa how to fight. She's got her fire down but her actual fighting tactics need work." Cynder said. Lisa seemed hesitant, she was never really the fighting type, I always had to be the one to scare the bullies away for her, but now she kinda needed to fight, for obvious reasons. "Lisa, she's right, you do need to learn to fight if we're going to stop The Sorceress." I told her. She thought it over for a second before reluctantly agreeing to go with Cynder.

Thus leaving me alone with Spyro. "I'm worried about her, Lisa." He told me suddenly. I tilted my head, wondering were the hell **this** came from. "When we were out hunting for food for the eastern dragons, she was upset that we had to kill the deer, I know that killing isn't a good thing to enjoy, but I'm just afraid that if it comes down to The Sorceress or us, she'll hesitate and well... you know." Spyro elaborated.

My heart sank, I got what Spyro was saying, and it was a horrible thought to contemplate, but he was right. If we **did** end up having to kill The Sorceress, which let's be honest here, is **very** likely, I know Lisa won't be able to do it. It just wasn't her nature to be violent. Which in human society was a very good thing, but here? Where we had to fight just to survive? That was a bad thing. And worse yet she might try to stop us if we try to end The Sorceress too! "What do we do then?" I asked Spyro.

Spyro paused in thought. "I don't know, but we'll have to think of something, you and Lisa are good people, I don't want to see either of you get killed." Spyro answered. Suddenly everyone around us stopped dead in their tracks. Confused, me and Spyro turned to see what it was that had gotten everyone's attention.

It was Cyril, who had apparently decided he needed the attention of everyone in the room right now, there was another dragon next to him, another eastern ice dragon, it wasn't Tundra though, this one was ice blue with dark gray mane and underbelly, and he was a bit older and more well built than Tundra. "Everyone, as you all know, Spyro and Blaze had recently rescued a group of eastern dragons from the eastern territories, and it seems that one had a young dragon with him who will be joining us in today's training." Cyril said.

Another young easterner? How did I not notice him? I guess he was hidden in the crowd of much larger dragons or I just wasn't paying attention. I wonder who he is anyway? He was clearly going to be an ice dragon judging by the large eastern ice dragon that stood next to Cyril who **had** to be his father. "So everyone, please welcome to the dojo, Koria." Cyril introduced.

Suddenly a... girl dragon? Came walking in, she was a pale ice blue, with golden eyes, her mane and underbelly were snow white, she kinda had a similar facial structure to Cynder, in that her snout was pointed and almost resembled a beak, however Koria's was a bit more round, her horns were white like her underbelly and curved upwards. She just had this look on her face that said she didn't want to be here. She didn't move until her father nudged her forward with his head. She then made her reluctant walk to the other ice dragons.

Spyro then nudged me. "Is it just me, or did she seem like she didn't even want to be here?" He asked me. Well Spyro that was kinda hard to miss given her body language. I saw her father walk out of the dojo as Cyril ushered her and her fellow ice dragons off to teach them ice. "Yeah, I noticed." I said to Spyro.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

It was weird, teaching someone else how to fight, I remember I had been forced to learn on my own by Gual and the other apes when I was growing up, but now I was passing on what I had learned in those times to someone else. There's an irony in that somewhere I'm sure. Lisa herself was struggling quite a bit, probably still getting used to being a dragon after spending most her life as a human. But I had to teach her. "Lisa, when in a fight, speed is everything, you give your opponent too much time to think, they're going to find out how to beat you. You can't give them that chance." I instructed her.

Lisa's movements were too slow, in a real fight she'd have gotten killed several times over. And she was way too easy to read, making her too easy to counter. We had a lot of work to do if she was going to take on The Sorceress. Lisa tried to make her movements faster but only managed to lose her footing and fall. "I can't do it Cynder!" Lisa whined in defeat.

I shook my head. "If you keep an attitude like that you're right. You're not going to get it down in just one day, it'll take time for your fighting skills to improve. But not if you just give up because it's too hard!" I lectured her. Lisa was way too soft, that much was clear, Dwayne had been babying her all her life so she never learned to stand on her own because she always had big brother there to protect her. But now she had no choice, she **had** to stand on her own if she was going to live through the fight with The Sorceress.

Lisa just laid there with that sad puppy dog look she always had when she was upset by something. "I'm sorry Cynder... I'm trying.." She whimpered at me. I just shook my head. "You need to grow up Lisa." I told her coldly. She froze after I said this, completely caught off guard by my comment.

"You're too soft, too dependent on Dwayne to stand on your own four feet! You're never going to be a good fighter if you keep whimpering like a hatchling every time something upsets you!" I added. Lisa just keep quivering, I knew I was probably breaking her little heart into pieces, but this was something that had been bothering me about her since I met her, she was such a little wilting flower! Between this and what Spyro had told me about what happened when he and her had been hunting someone needed to be the badguy and set her straight, might as well be me. "I... I'm sorry Cynder." she told me, clearly trying not to cry.

I snarled. "Don't apologize to me! Prove me wrong! You'll never survive in this world if you keep letting people walk all over you! Come on! You want me to stop? Make me! Stand up for yourself for once!" I egged her on. Lisa just forced her eyes shut, tears raining from them. "No wonder Dwayne was the one who did all the fighting... you don't have the guts to do it yourself" I said to her coldly before turning to walk away.

However before I did I felt something strike me in the side knocking me over. I turned to see Lisa standing over me, a look of pure rage on her face. "Don't tell me what I can't do! You don't know anything about me!" She screamed at me. I smiled at her, confusing her instantly. "I knew that would work." I told her as I got up, Lisa was completely lost in confusion.

I turned towards her. "All you needed was a little push, Dwayne had been protecting you your whole life, but he wasn't here to do it this time, so you learned to do it yourself." I explained to her. "You needed to learn to stand on your own, Dwayne's not always going to be there to protect you, relying on others is a crutch, sometimes you need to be able to rely on yourself." I added. Lisa seemed to be getting it now.

I then took a fighting stance. "Now... let's see what you've got!" I challenged her, she complied, now we'll see if she really could fight on her own...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Apparently today was the day we were supposed to have what Spyro called "dragon duels". It was supposed to be a showcase of what we had learned over the past week. Yeah, I had to fight another young dragon now, and one from another element too apparently. Because why not?

Terrador seemed to be the one in charge of orchestrating this little event. Because of reasons. "Alright, now I want you all to gather around, when I call your name, you will step forward for the duel." Terrador instructed, motioning for us all to gather around this circular symbol in the center of the dojo, "The rules of the duel are simple, two dragons will fight until one manages to knock his or her opponent out of the circle. This duel is between the two dragons called forward alone! So I don't want to see any outside interference from any of you or else you will be escorted from the dojo and punished. Is that clear?" Terrador explained. I thought this circle was just for decoration? Guess not...

"Alright then, we shall begin with... Flame..." Terrador said, Flame then stepped into the circle with a look of confidence on his face. "...And Surge." He then added, a young electric dragon then stepped in. "Alright, stay on your ends until I give the signal for you to begin." Terrador said. He then stepped out of the circle. "Begin!" He instructed.

And in seconds everyone started cheering on their respective dragon as Flame and Surge squared off. They started to swat and bat at each other like two cats before Surge fired the first breath weapon, a lightening bolt that just barely missed Flame's head.

I had to be honest with myself here, I didn't want to take part in this, I **knew** these guys would kick my ass. They'd been training far longer than I had, and while I was good with my breath weapons, I wasn't much for melee which seemed to be the preferred attack method for this as Flame and Surge just kept smacking each other around like this was the dragon version of MMA or something. Spyro noticed how nervous I was. "Don't worry Dwayne, I'm sure you'll do fine." Spyro told me.

I shook my head. "You saw how bad I did against Bianca and the husk! I'm gonna get knocked into next week I know it!" I said to him. Before Spyro could argue Flame went flying by, out of the ring and knocking a few poor unsuspecting dragons over like bowling pins. Surge began to prance around the ring in joy after Terrador proclaimed him the winner, his electric dragon friends also reveling in their friends victory. Poor Flame, never stood a chance...

Surge then went back to his friends. "Alright, next..." Terrador said before scanning his eyes through the crowd, I moved myself behind Spyro in hopes he would pick me. "Dwayne I can still see you, since you seem so eager to avoid this you can go next and be done with it." Terrador told me, smooth move Dwayne, in your efforts to duck the fight you only pissed Terrador off and made your fight come sooner. I hesitated. "Now Dwayne!" Terrador boomed, causing me to hurry to my spot in an effort to avoid angering the earth guardian any further. This also caused the other dragons to laugh, man it's just like high school get the teacher to yell at you and the whole class finds it hilarious. I guess Bowling for Soup was right, high school really doesn't end.

Terrador then scanned the crowd again for my opponent, god I hope he doesn't pick someone good, I kinda want to keep all my teeth. "Koria." Terrador said, Koria then stepped into the ring, well this was good right? I mean she just started training today so she couldn't be that good right? She walked right up to my face. Staring me down with a face that said _"your ass is grass" _as he brought her face right up to mine. "Uhh... good luck?" I said trying to be a good sportsman. But Koria just snorted. "You're the one that needs luck." Koria said coldly before turning and walking to her own end of the ring. So much for sportsmanship...

Terrador seemed to take his time in starting the duel, as me and Koria sat in our ends of the ring. "Begin!" Terrador said and before you could say _"Slobber Knocker King!"_ Koria pounced on me like a tiger and began to rain blows on me. "I thought we were supposed to knock each other out of the ring?!" I said in between shots.

Koria smiled. "Oh I know." She said before backhanding me across the ring, me just barely managing to avoid getting knocked out of the ring. Koria began to use her ice breath to shoot snow balls at me like a cannon, me avoiding the white mounds of death with a mad sprint around the ring. Man this was so goofy and pathetic all it needed was the Benny Hill theme and it'd be complete. I could hear my fellow students laughing their asses off as the ice dragoness chased me around the ring shooting snow balls at me.

As I was running I could see Terrador face palm and groan at how I was handling my first duel. Cyril and Volteer were both behind Terrador, Cyril was snickering and Volteer just had a look of pure confusion on his face. Just then I felt something very cold and very wet tag me in the ass sending me tumbling to the ground. "Come on fire boy! Fight me!" Koria yelled at me. I got up and charged her, crashing into her like a football player. But she didn't go down, she and I just sort of grappled with each other.

I managed to land a nice paw swipe to her face, but she took it in stride and answered with a take down. She and I tussled around for a bit, man I couldn't even imagine how silly this looked to the others. I then managed to throw her off and into the center of the ring, in retrospect I probably should have tossed her _out _of the ring but that would have made sense. Koria was quick to her feet and rushed me like a bull. She hit me like a linebacker sending us both rolling towards the outside of the ring before we suddenly came to a stop when I managed to push her off me

"Dwayne wins!" Terrador suddenly said. Wait... I did? I turned to see that I had somehow managed to push her out of the ring in my attempt to get her off me. Man... talk about dumb luck. Koria turned her head to me, absolutely livid that I beat her like that. I meanwhile was still trying to process that I actually won that hilariously one sided fight. I slowly walked back over to Spyro, keeping my eyes on Koria so she couldn't tear my throat out for screwing her out of the duel.

Spyro blinked. "Well... that wasn't the most... graceful, fight I had ever seen, but hey, you won!" Spyro said, yeah but now Koria wanted my head on a pike, I could tell even from where I was that she was royally pissed at me for that little loss... great... looks like I had just made a new friend... joy.

* * *

**A/N- Sorry for not getting this up yesterday, but things got in the way and by the time I had sometime to sit and write I was too tired to actually write...**

**And hooray for me inserting random wrestling jokes NO ONE will get... my wrestling humor is WASTED on you people!**


	17. Girl Troubles

**Chapter 17: Girl Problems**

* * *

I had done my best to avoid Koria after our duel, mainly because she kept giving me looks like she was going to rip my head off and punt it like a football when she got her hands on me. Spyro had taken it upon himself to go talk to Koria in hopes he could find out if she really wanted to pound me into mush or if she was just steaming from the loss and would get over it eventually. However I knew better, I may not exactly be an expert on girls, but someone doesn't just give you death glares full of rage and hatred if they're going to get over it anytime soon.

Eventually Spyro returned from his talk with Koria. "So, how bad is it?" I asked him, Spyro sighed, knowing I wasn't going to like what I was about to hear. "She's a bit bitter." Spyro said, yeah I know that Spyro, but **how** bitter? "How much?" I asked him.

Spyro gave me an uneasy look. "I think her exact words were "If I ever see that red little twerp again I'm going to tare his wings off and feed them to him." So yeah, it doesn't look good." Spyro elaborated. You know, normally I would assume she was just exaggerating to emphasize her anger, but given what messed up stuff I'd seen in this world up to this point I wouldn't be surprised if she actually did that when she found me.

I don't even know what I did wrong! I just beat her in a duel it's not like I burned her house down and danced on the ashes! "I don't get it! What did I do?! All I did was win! Not even on purpose! What the hell?!" I said.

Spyro looked behind him, possibly checking to see if Koria was listening or something before looking back at me. "It wasn't that you won Dwayne, you embarrassed her in front of the whole temple. Let's be honest Dwayne you weren't exactly that... impressive in that fight." Spyro corrected me. Oh so that's it? She wants me dead because her ego is bruised?! And I thought The Sorceress' motivations were dumb.

Cynder and Lisa then approached us, both of them had some nasty cuts and bruises, but seemed to be completely fine otherwise. "Hey guys... what's up with Dwayne?" Cynder asked, noticing how unraveled I was. What's up with me? What's up with you two!? What did you go practice on a goddamn grizzly bear?! Who comes back from fight training with cuts and bruises **that** bad?! I'd probably never get the answer though... because of reasons.

Spyro decided to answer for me since I was still trying to process why they were in the condition they were in. "Dwayne won his fist dragon duel, but his opponent isn't taking it well." Spyro explained.

Cynder just rolled her eyes, as if this was just some guy whining about the dent in his car or something. "Let me guess, it's Flame isn't it, he was always known for being a sore loser." Cynder said, oh if only, if only. At least I could **take** Flame, Koria was clearly a better fighter than me, that was made abundantly clear during our duel.

Spyro shook his head. "No, it's an ice dragoness named Koria, she's one of the eastern dragons that we rescued from the east. I had the chance to talk to her earlier, she's... uh... quite the character." Spyro said rubbing the back of his neck.

However, I managed to see Koria out the corner of my eye while everyone was talking, it seemed as though she hadn't noticed I was there until she managed to crane her head in my direction, her eyes filling with fury the second they locked with mine. "YOU!" She snarled before she began storming towards me. "You and I have a score to settle fire boy!" She added.

I made a very unmanly yelping noise as I went to run for my life. I could tell just by the look on her face she wanted me dead! However Cynder felt the need to stop me for some reason, slamming her paw on my tail so I couldn't get away. "Don't run away! Stand up for yourself!" Cynder growled at me. How about I don't and say I did? I have a feeling that's the healthier option right now.

"No way! You see those eyes?! Those are the eyes of a dragon who wants to rip me apart and play jump rope with my intestines!" I said, trying to get my tail free from under Cynder's paw but to no avail.

However this effort was rendered pointless now that Koria was within striking distance. "You screwed me out of the duel you little twerp! I should have won that fight and you **know** it!" Koria yelled at me. Spyro getting in between us before she could choke me like I owed her money. "It's just a duel Koria! It's not worth getting **this** upset over." Spyro said trying in vain to calm her down.

Of course this didn't work, she was still dead set on murdering the crap out of me. "He humiliated me in front of the entire western temple! The little twerp needs a good ass kicking!" Koria barked at Spyro. Boy she was just a giant bowl of sunshine wasn't she?

"Koria that's enough."

We all turned to see the older dragon from earlier. Her dad basically, he had a disappointed look on his face as he looked down upon her. "A dragon must be honorable in defeat Koria, and show respect to their opponent even when they feel their defeat was unjustified." He said to Koria.

Koria grumbled. "Yes Grandfather." She said begrudgingly, wait... grandfather? I thought for sure that was her dad! Then again, it did make sense, he did seem pretty old, but with dragons it was kinda hard to tell sometimes. But this made me wonder where her **actual** parents were? I'd ask but, I doubt that wouldn't end with me picking my teeth off the temple floor.

Koria's grandfather then looked over to me. "I apologize for my granddaughter's behavior towards you young dragon, Koria has her father's pride and doesn't take defeat well." He explained to me, she's also a bitter hateful psychopath but I think that's better left unsaid. Koria's grandfather then turned towards his granddaughter. "Come Koria, you have more training with Cyril..." Koria's grandfather said.

And with that they both left. Thank god her grandfather was there to stop her before she tore me limb from limb! However I wasn't out of the doghouse yet as I saw that Cynder wasn't too impressed with how I... handled that situation. "I can't believe you didn't even try to defend yourself! How can you hope to beat The Sorceress if you can't even stand up to some stupid ice dragoness?!" Cynder reprimanded me not unlike a drill Sargent chewing out one of his cadets.

Spyro stepped in. "Back off Cynder, I'm sure he just didn't want to risk making it any worse than it already was, come on, we should get you and Lisa some spirit gems for those cuts." Spyro said before leading Cynder and Lisa off to do just that. And also leaving me completely alone.

I left the dojo after that, not wanting to risk another encounter with Koria, I noticed Taven leaning against one of the walls of the hall I entered. "I thought you and Darius went back to the Valley of Avalar?" I asked him, wondering why he was still here.

Taven rolled his eyes. "Because I find Warfang to be far less boring to be quite honest." Taven answered, well at least he's honest about it. Although remembering how Chief Prowlus was in the games I could imagine he wasn't very thrilled about Darius and Taven's constant disappearances. Taven then noticed my demeanor. "Something troubling you Dwayne?" He asked me.

I sighed, "I beat this dragoness in a duel and now she's sworn blood vengeance on me." I explained to him, realizing how petty that sounded saying it out loud.

Darius knelt down so he was eye level with me. "Ah, the wrath of a woman is a terrifying thing isn't it friend?" He asked me, I had the feeling judging by his wording that he'd managed to tick off a few girl cheetahs in his time, probably trying to ask them out or something else equally dudebro. "Don't worry Dwayne, she'll get over it eventually, but my advice to you in the meantime is to avoid coming into contact with her for a while, it'll hurt less." Taven told me. Yeah he was speaking from experience, it was so painfully obvious he might as well have it tattooed on his forehead.

Suddenly I saw Darius come in out the corner of my eye. "Dwayne, trust me you should never take advice from Taven when it comes to women. He can't even talk to one for five seconds without getting slapped." Darius said confirming my theory. Taven scowled at his older brother, clearly not wanting me to know about that. Darius then knelt down in front of me, man it was weird being so short that these two cheetahs, who couldn't be any taller than 5"11, had to get on one knee just to talk to me. "And may I ask what it is my brother is foolishly trying to help you with Dwayne?" Darius asked me.

Taven huffed. "He apparently defeated a dragoness in a duel and she's holding a grudge." Taven answered for me, not even trying to hide how annoyed he was with Darius. I swear these two get miffed with each other over just about anything.

Darius chuckled a little. "Ah, hurt her pride did you? It's nothing to worry about Dwayne, she'll forget all about it with time." Darius told me, dude that's pretty much the same thing Taven said! Taven seemed to notice this too as he just scowled and shook his head at Darius.

I groaned, knowing that I hadn't seen the last of Koria, and the cheetah brother's advice wasn't going to help much, sooner or later she was gonna catch me, and well, I'd probably have to eat all of my meals through a straw from that point on. Taven gave me a pat on the head and he and his brother left. What the hell am I going to do?

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

It was a strange thing indeed, to see my kin in this temple, they seemed well adjusted enough, mingling with the westerners and each other, it hurt to know only one of the children outside of Dwayne and Lisa had survived the war. But nothing could be done about that now, now was a time for recovery. The sick dragon's conditions had massively improved thanks to the western dragon's spirit gems. Some even walked among the others now, completely healthy outside of a few stray coughs here and there.

Better still, I was entrusted by the guardians to mold the next generation of fire dragons, It may have not been how **we** did things, we were always taught our elements by our parents in the east, but I was more than happy to pass on my skills to the younger dragons. With The Sorceress targeting the west now, I wanted these dragons to be able to fight in case she made another attack, I had my animosities with the westerners, but I would be damned if they fell to the same fate my people had.

Right now I was looking for my children, I hadn't seen them since they ate. I know I should give them space, but after 12 years of being separated from them, not knowing what had become of them, I couldn't help but be a bit overprotective. However I stopped when I noticed a little yellow speck flying through the temple, I recognized it as Sparx, Spyro's dragonfly companion. He seemed to notice my presence as he flew right up to me. "Oh... hey there Blaze, say you wouldn't happen to know where Spyro is do ya? I've been looking for the guy all day!" He asked me.

I groaned, I wasn't too fond of Sparx, to be honest I found him quite annoying, but he was harmless, and meant well, so I held no ill will towards him. "No Sparx, I haven't seen him, perhaps he is with Dwayne and Lisa?" I suggested to him, hoping he'd leave me be. I went to walk away and continue my search for Dwayne and Lisa, however Sparx followed me. "Can I help you?" I asked him rather bitterly.

"Hey you said he might be with your kids, and that's where you're going right?" Sparx said, dammit! I should have thought that through better. I sighed in defeat knowing I wouldn't rid myself of the little pest until he found Spyro. How he tolerates Sparx I will never know... "Why are you always so grumpy? Are you just bitter and angry at the world or somethin'?" Sparx asked me.

I glared at him. "After all I've been through in my lifetime Sparx, I think I preserve the right to be "grumpy"." I said to him as I continued to look for my children, Soon I happened to see Dwayne in the halls, looking a bit paranoid as he constantly looked over his surroundings like he was expecting someone to attack. Curious and a bit worried I approached him. "Dwayne, is something the matter?" I asked him.

Dwayne was clearly startled as I saw him jump the second I spoke, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was only me. "Oh... hey dad." Dwayne said, deliberately not answering my question. "Dwayne, I asked you a question, you seem on edge, you know you need to tell me when something is worrying you." I told him firmly, Dwayne was still clearly not used to having an active parent, as he seemed to lack the respect a child should have for their parent.

Dwayne sighed, as if embarrassed by whatever it was that troubled him. "I'm having trouble... with a girl..." He began, "I kinda beat her in the dragon duel, and she wasn't too thrilled about it, and I know it sounds crazy, but I think she's actually going to kill me." Dwayne explained.

I let out a small growl. "Who is this dragoness that threatens my son?! What is her name?" I demanded, I wasn't going to have these westerners children attacking my children! It was bad enough The Sorceress was targeting them! I don't need dragons doing it too!

"I... she's an eastern dragon named Koria." Dwayne explained. It appeared that lone young eastern dragon had become a rival with my son, and he clearly felt threatened so she must have been a skilled fighter to get **this** kind of reaction out of him. But I was his father, I had to insure he felt safe. "Dwayne, I think you're overreacting, I'm sure this "Koria" seems to be a threat to you, but I promise you, you are safe within these walls. I will ensure it myself if need be." I explained to him.

However then I heard snickering, I looked to see Sparx found this quite amusing. "You're scared of a girl?! Hahahaha! Oh man! Aww.. what's the matter? The big scary fire dragon scared of a mean old girl?" Sparx taunted Dwayne, flying around him. Dwayne gave him an annoyed look. "Dude shut up! You haven't seen her man! She has the crazy eyes!" Dwayne said, but Sparx's laughter persisted. "Oh I'm sure Skippy..." Sparx mocked.

I wasn't having any more of this, I stepped between Sparx and Dwayne, I said nothing, just glaring at him, my size alone made Sparx silent with fear. I then turned to Dwayne. "Where is your sister?" I asked, changing the subject in hopes Dwayne could relax for a moment.

Dwayne seemed hesitant to answer my question. "She's in the infirmary with Spyro and Cynder, they got a little beaten when they were training." He explained... infirmary?! How intense was this training?! "Dad... Dad calm down! It wasn't that bad, just a few small scrapes!" Dwayne said, noticing my anger building.

"Take me to them... now!" I ordered him, Dwayne flinched, but he complied and took me to the infirmary where apparently my daughter was being healed... we would have words about this "training" when we found them, you can rest assured of that!

* * *

**A/N- Oh boy, looks like Lisa and Cynder have some 'splainin to do! **

**I just realized this chapter was about 90% filler... go me... *Sad trombone music***

**It's been a while since we heard from The Sorceress hasn't it?... Just thought I'd through that out there... *evil grin***

**And yes, I know, I'm late again, I'm actually finishing this up at 3:00 AM in fact. And I have no real excuse, I'm way too easily distracted... blurg...**


	18. The Best Laid Plans

**Chapter 18: The Best Laid Plans**

* * *

_**Later That Night at The Sorceress's Palace...**_

* * *

I hated lying in wait... waiting for The Sorceress to give me my chance to mount another attack on the dragons, but The Sorceress insisted we should let them get cozy before we attack once more. I sat in my chambers, looking over the tools I used to remove those dragon wings. How they yearned to cut into the flesh of that purple dragon, to rip the wings from his back as he cried and begged for mercy. I would have him in my grasp someday, I swore it, him and those Reed siblings. If only The Sorceress would allow me the chance! I had considered striking out on my own to capture them, but I'm certain she would have my head for doing that.

I always hated dragons, even before I joined with The Sorceress, always seeing themselves as superior, they didn't deserve the adulation they got, they were nothing more than pompous fools who flaunted their powers at us like a child with it's new toy. How they revolted me...

I was pulled from my thoughts by someone entering my chambers, I turned to see it was one of the other mages, "What is it? Can't you see I'm busy?" I told them as they entered. The mage however stammered a bit before responding. "The Sorceress wishes to see you Rikor. She says it's urgent." The mage said before taking his leave. What could The Sorceress want with me at this hour?

I got up and made my way towards The Sorceress' chambers as instructed, perhaps she had finally saw it fit to mount our attack on the temple? Or perhaps she had other things in mind... Either way, it would be unwise to keep her waiting. The Sorceress has never been known for her patience. I opened the doors to her throne room, where she sat... a look of urgency on her face. "What is it you wanted to see me for Sorceress?" I asked as I approached.

The Sorceress paused for a moment before responding. "I'm beginning to fear we may need that potion sooner than I had thought." The Sorceress said, getting straight to the point. "The potions are beginning to wear off and I'm showing signs of age again." She added, The Sorceress had several potions crafted from Blaze's scales she had used to keep her from aging temporarily, that was part of why we had taken him in the first place, but now that he was gone, we had to rely on the several spare potions we had left over, and it seemed as though they had run out. "If I don't get that potion soon Rikor, my age will begin to catch up with me. And you know what happens then..." She finished.

I knew full well what it meant, her magic would weaken, and soon she would grow ill and die. "What is it you want me to do Sorceress?" I asked her, knowing in my gut she wanted me to take the purple dragon.

"I want you to go to Warfang, sneak into the temple and take two young dragons, with any luck, that purple fool will come to rescue them." The Sorceress commanded. "But do not bring them here, I don't want to risk that purple dragon taking them should he escape my trap. Take them to the catacombs beneath were the Well of Souls once stood. There you can hold them there until the purple dragon is ours." She added. The catacombs? I knew where they were of course, and had been down there once before, but why there of all places? I guess so Spyro couldn't find them. I wasn't about to argue semantics with The Sorceress though, I was just glad we were finally making our move. "You leave for Warfang immediately, do not disappoint me Rikor... after Bianca's betrayal, I'm quite low on forgiveness." The Sorceress then added.

* * *

_**Meanwhile In Warfang...**_

* * *

Well this sucked, apparently in our rush to get all of the eastern dragons to Warfang we had overlooked a rather important detail...

Where the hell were they going to stay? The Guardians had said that they'd move all the eastern dragons into homes in the city once they had repaired them, but what about the meantime? The temple wasn't exactly a hotel, and while the gardens were sufficient for me, dad, and Lisa, it wasn't too big, certainly not big enough for several very large dragons. So what was Volteer's solution?

A Massive camp out in the field behind the temple... Because what could **possibly** go wrong with putting several brightly colored dragons in an unprotected field where some asshole could easily sneak in and gut us all like pigs? Dad insisted we join them, saying he wanted to make sure his people were "well looked after". I had to admit, I was beginning to miss the concrete slab masquerading as a bed I had back in the human realms after going on my third night sleeping on the grass. Hell at least when I stayed at Spyro's he was nice enough to offer me a pillow! What did I get out here? Nothing but grass, dirt, and the occasional insect crawling all over me. Man, dragons rough it hardcore...

Thankfully when we had met up with Lisa, Cynder, and Spyro in the infirmary I was able to keep dad from throwing Cynder through a wall for scuffing up my sister while training. Man I thought his head was going to explode or something during that whole conversation. At least he was calmer now. Although that didn't stop him from lecturing Lisa about "taking training too far" for five hours.

I also learned during this time that the eastern dragons were quite the tight knit group. Everyone seemed to already know each other by name, hell they even knew me and Lisa's names which was bizarre as hell. We had all set up a small bonfire in the middle of the field, everyone sharing stories and laughing. You wouldn't believe that earlier this morning these guys were staring into the eyes of death. I just sat there next to my father, completely silent and watching the flames of the bonfire dance. I looked over to see Koria with her grandfather in the distance, Koria looking off to the side as her grandfather talked with another dragon. What was up with her anyway? She seemed to be so bitter towards everything for some reason. In fact I don't think I've ever seen her smile once since I met her.

I don't know why I kept staring, if she noticed me staring I'd probably be eating my own teeth soon afterward. But I don't know, I just felt... intrigued by her for some reason. I wanted to know why she hung out with grandpa instead of her parents, why she was **that** pissed I beat her earlier today. Maybe it was because she was the only other eastern dragon here that was my age? Maybe I just hate myself and want to get the crap kicked out of me? Who knows... "Dwayne, you're relationship with Koria isn't going to improve if you keep staring at her." Dad said, noticing my creepy stalker gawking.

I turned my attention towards my father, a bit embarrassed he caught me staring at a girl. "Sorry dad... I must have zoned out." I lied, knowing how bad this made me look. You don't just stare at a girl, especially when they don't like you, back in the Human Realms that got you slapped with a restraining order.

I saw that dad didn't buy my fib for a second given the expression on his face. "Dwayne you should know better than to lie to your father, what is it that bothers you?" He asked me. I paused for a moment, not really wanting to tell him because I **knew** what it was going to sound like, it was a situation ripped right out of a romantic comedy, a girl and a guy who hate each other to the core suddenly fall madly in love because of reasons. And that was **not** the case with me and her, there was no cheesy romance under that hate she had for me, no she hated me full stop, and I was terrified of her. But dad was anything if not persistent, so I had to answer, he wouldn't drop it until I did. "I don't know, she just confuses the hell out of me..." I said, nice Dwayne, not over the top at all, very subtle.

Dad looked over to her then back at me. "You know Dwayne, she may not be as bad as you think her to be if you bothered to get to know her." Dad said. Oh no... dad please don't go here, I just got my mane the way I like it, on my head! He was gonna force me to talk to her I know it! And I could cry and scream all I wanted, he wasn't going to let me say no. "Come, why don't we go talk with her?" Dad said to my horror.

Oh **hell** no! That bitch is **crazy**! She made Cynder look like a cuddly teddy bear! No way in hell am I getting near that dragoness! "Uhh.. no thanks! I'd rather keep my head thank you." I said hoping he'd understand why I didn't want to do it and just let it go.

But of course, dad was never one to quit on anything as he ushered me forward with his paw, giving me a look that said _"Walk or I'll drag you kicking and screaming by your tail!"_. Man having a father really sucked sometimes... especially one like dad who didn't take crap from nobody even when he really should. So I very hesitantly walked with dad over to Koria and her grandfather. Why me?

Koria's grandfather noticed us approach. "Hello Blaze, did you need something?" He greeted. I didn't take my eyes off Koria for a second, she just gave me that look that said _"Walk away bitch... now.". _And I would have, but dad would probably step on my tail to keep me in place, which seemed to be the preferred method for keeping unruly dragons from bolting.

Dad gave Koria's grandfather a friendly smile. "My son seems to have gotten himself in trouble with your granddaughter Glacior, I wanted to perhaps discuss this." Dad said, Glacior? What was up with the names in this world? Isn't there anyone here just named "Bob"?

Glacior frowned. "Ah yes, I'm well aware, I had to stop Koria for attacking the poor boy earlier, I've been trying to get her to calm down, but she's every bit as stubborn as her father was." Glacior said. Koria just snorted at the comment before continuing to stare into my soul. "Koria please, I'm sure Dwayne meant no harm in his actions during your duel." Glacior said to his very frightening granddaughter.

Koria turned to her grandfather. "He humiliated me! He barely even **fought** in that duel! He was just running around in circles like a chicken with it's head cut off!" Koria snapped, okay I admit, that wasn't my finest moment, but I was just trying not to **die** okay? I didn't even know I **had** beat her until Terrador said I had.

I chanced a look at dad, he had a confused look on his face, the mental image of his son being chased in circles by an ice dragoness had to be making him feel shame over his wimp of a son. However he shook it off. "You should listen to your grandfather Koria, Dwayne isn't one to humiliate someone on purpose. Unless it's himself apparently..." Dad said giving me a funny look. Yeah I was gonna have an earful about that later I just know it.

"No one asked you!" Koria snapped at dad. Causing both dad and Glacior to look at her with shock at her sudden outburst. "Koria!" Glacior reprimanded her before turning to dad. "Blaze I apologize, I don't know what's gotten into her!" Glacior hastily apologized to my father.

Dad looked down at me. "I think it's best these two settle their disagreement in privet." He said sternly. No! NO! You are **not** going to leave me alone with that psycho! "But dad-" I began before being cut off. "No buts Dwayne! You and Koria clearly need to reconcile before this gets out of hand!" Dad growled.

Glacior nodded and they both ushered us a good distance from the group. Glacior gave us a stern look. "Neither of you are to return to the group until you've put this ridiculous feud to rest! Is that clear?" He said to both of us. I nodded timidly and Koria just rolled her eyes. Glacior and dad both walked back to the bonfire leaving me alone with Koria.

I chanced a look at her, I could tell she had no intentions on burying the hatchet. "You just had to go cry to daddy didn't you?" Koria snarled at me.

I glared at her. "Hey I'm not the one swearing blood vengeance on someone for beating you in a duel! What is your damage anyway?! It was one little sparring match! I'm sure everyone else stopped caring hours ago!" I lashed out right back, if I was gonna be forced to talk with her in privet I sure as hell wasn't going to sit here and take her crap!

Koria let out a loud growl, showing her razor sharp fangs. "It's not my fault you're a spineless coward! I'm surprised your sister isn't dead already with the way you handled that duel!" Koria snarled.

"F**k you! Don't sit there and pretend like you know me! So I panicked during our fight, it wasn't because I'm a "spineless coward", it's because I wasn't ready for that fight, and you were raining snowballs on me before I could blink!" I snapped back.

Koria smacked me across the face with her paw. "Do us all a favor and leave, the dragon race is already barely hanging on as it is, we don't need someone like you dragging us down! Go back to the human realms, because it's very clear you're not ready for the dragon realms." She hissed at me. "I mean it! GO! I've seen far too many cowards like you running around getting others killed because they're too spineless to do anything! You're not a real dragon Dwayne, just a little human playing make believe..." She added.

Okay, that was uncalled for! I get she's mad at me, but to tell me I wasn't cool enough to be with my actual family? That's bull! "I'm not going anywhere... I know I'm a real dragon, and I'm not gonna let some holier than thou bitch tell me what I am when she doesn't know sh** about me!" I growled right back. We both just stood there, growling at each other like dogs... I wasn't leaving the dragon realms, especially not because some loon told me to!

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I moved in closer to where the eastern dragons were camping out, those fools left themselves in the open! And they say dragons are wise creatures...

Better yet I noticed two small figures standing away from the group, two young eastern dragons judging by their shape, it had to be the Reed siblings, they were the only young eastern dragons left alive... I couldn't think of two better dragons to use as bait for the purple dragon. I had a score to settle with the Reeds...

I fished into my robe for a little potion I had whipped up before leaving the castle. A knockout potion, it was silent, and worked almost instantly, by the time those fools realized I had taken them I would be long gone... I threw it right in front of the two, who both jumped back before it went off in a puff of smoke, once it cleared they were both unconscious. I slowly sneaked up to the two dragons before stuffing them in the sack I took with me and making off with them into the night...

* * *

_**Later That Morning...**_

* * *

I figured that Dwayne and Koria wouldn't have settled their differences for a while, and managed to doze off at some point that night... When I opened my eyes the first thing that caught my eye was Glacior frantically looking around, calling Koria's name every now and then, curious I got up and approached the elder dragon. "Glacior? What's wrong?" I asked him.

He looked to me with clear panic in his eyes. "I can't find Koria! She's not in the temple, not anywhere in this field, I've even asked the others and they haven't seen her either!" He told me. Koria disappeared? How odd. "I also haven't been able to find your son either, I was hoping I could ask him where she went last night but he's nowhere to be found as well." He added. I froze, no... he couldn't be gone! I looked around and sure enough, Dwayne was no where to be found. However in my search I noticed something was on the ground.

Curious I moved in closer, Glacior following behind. When I got closer I saw that it was a piece of parchment with a rock placed on top of it to prevent the wind from blowing it away, I took the rock and looked over the parchment... my heart sank to the floor when I read it's contents.

"Missing someone Spyro?

The mages will take good care of your eastern dragon friends...

Rikor."

I stood there in disbelief, how? How did he get in without us knowing?! And he took Dwayne and Koria, probably thinking Koria was Lisa. Me and Glacior looked at each other, sharing the same look of horror as we realized we had inadvertently handed our children to The Sorceress... Ancestors forgive me...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

I don't know what the hell that was, if I didn't know any better I would have said it was a smoke bomb but I doubted the dragon realms had that kind of technology. Whatever it was it had knocked me right out, I opened my eyes to see I was in some kind of dark tunnel or cave. And right there laying next to me, was Koria. Who was just waking up as well. Her eyes shot open wide when she saw where we were. "What the?! Where are we?!" She said. I glared at her. "What makes you think I know?!" I said. Koria just growled at me before going to walk off.

However, before she could get even ten feet from me, something stopped her, a long green glowing something. It was some kind of magic chain or something, the chain itself was running down under some kind of hook bolted to the stone floor keeping it, and by extension us, in place. Me and Koria both looked down at the magic leash that bound us together in a mix of horror and disbelief. "Well that's not good." We both said in unison.

"Like it?"

Me and Koria turned to see that lizard mage who had picked up Bianca after we knocked her out, he walked in with a sh*teating grin on his face. "It's a bounding spell, a trick The Sorceress picked up from the Dark Master Malefor himself during our alliance with him. Don't bother trying to break it, for only the one who cast it could do that, which unfortunately for you... is me." He said with a grin. I should have known I hadn't heard the last of these yahoos! And better, he just chained me to what had to be my least favorite dragon in Warfang to boot! "I had thought that the girl was your sister Dwayne, but it seemed that the dark of night had fooled me, but it matters not, I'm sure this little dragon will do just as fine to lure that foolish purple dragon into The Sorceress' trap." He added.

Trap? Wait I was... bait? Even more confusing was the fact that they tried this already with Ember didn't they? "Yeah, well I hope I get to watch as Spyro kicks your sorry ass when he finds us asshole!" I scoffed at him. But instead of being annoyed or intimidated, he just laughed. "Oh, he won't find you Dwayne, for he doesn't even know we're here, we aren't even **in** The Sorceress' castle, we're in the Catacombs right under where the Well of Souls once stood. You and your little friend might want to get used to each other's company, because you're going to be here for a long... long time." The lizard mage said before walking off, laughing like the Saturday morning cartoon villain he was.

Me and Koria both looked at each other. Silently telling each other how screwed we really were, we were both stuck, chained to each other, and to the floor in an underground catacomb, with Spyro and probably everyone else probably already gearing up to storm The Sorceress castle, with no Toad to tell them their Dwayne was in another castle, and right into a trap. We are so screwed aren't we?

* * *

**A/N- How will Dwayne and Koria get out of this one?**

**Will Spyro rescue them? Or will he fall right into The Sorceress' trap and lose his wings?**

**Will Dwayne and Koria be able to survive each other long enough to make their daring escape?**

**And will Foowd ever realize 60's Batman jokes are so overplayed to the point of redundancy?**

**Stay tuned!**

**Same Foowd time... Same Foowd... story?... Site?... Yeah this joke is dead...**


	19. The Missing Dragons (Re-Upload)

**Chapter 19: The Missing Dragons**

* * *

_**Back at Warfang...**_

* * *

Me and Glacior wasted no time in informing the guardians of Dwayne and Koria's kidnapping. I can't believe I allowed this to happen! My only son taken by those sadistic monsters while I slept silently and completely oblivious to it all! If he died, it was on my head... the second loved one lost to my foolishness...

I had explained everything to the three guardians, they all reacted with shock at the news. Volteer looked over the note again. Puzzling over something. Terrador turned to his fellow guardian. "What is it Volteer?" He asked.

Volteer took a moment before responding. "Something about this note perplexes me. It is clearly addressed to Spyro, but for what reason? Why Spyro specifically? And Why even leave the note at all? Surely they wouldn't want us to know they were taken to prevent us from mounting a rescue?" Volteer puzzled. I hadn't really given it that much thought, my son and Koria were taken by mages who sought to take their wings from his back! I felt that **that** was a touch more important than who the letter was addressing!

"What does it matter?! Those maniacs have my **son**! What does it matter that it addresses Spyro?!" I lashed out, furious that Volteer was focusing on such a trivial detail like this when my only son could very well be bleeding to death right now!

However Volteer just glared at me. "Now Blaze, I understand you're concerned for the children, we all are, but this could be a far more prudent detail than you think it is." Volteer said firmly. "Blaze you may not wish to hear this, but this may be a trap." Volteer added before going back to studying the note.

A trap?! My son could be **dying** right now and you're more concerned that it might be a trap?! I suddenly remembered why I hated the guardians as much as I did now. "My SON is GONE you son of a bitch! And you want to waste precious time on the off chance that it may be a trap?!" I lashed out.

However Terrador stood between me and Volteer. "Blaze calm down! We have no intentions of leaving Dwayne and Koria to rot in The Sorceress' clutches, but Volteer has a point! It seems very suspicious that they would leave a note, especially one that address Spyro specifically out of all dragons here in Warfang! We're no help to either of them if we go in blindly and get killed if Volteer is right and this is indeed a trap! We have to think about this rationally!" Terrador snapped at me.

I snarled. "Every second we waste gives those heathens another chance to kill Dwayne and Koria!" I roared, I wasn't going to let my son die because these westerners were too busy seeing details where none existed! This was my **son**! One of the only two family members I had left! I'd be damned if I was going to let these morons take that away from me! "You don't care at all do you? You don't care that my only son is possibly having his wings cut off right now while we sit here chasing shadows! You're just going to let them die just like our eggs during the raid!" I added in anger.

I noticed that Terrador was downright offended by my statement, he then tackled me to the ground, his right front leg pressed across my throat. "How dare you even imply that I'm willing to let those two die! You think the eastern dragons are the only ones that suffered?! We lost our own eggs in that raid too Blaze! I have **no** intentions on letting either Dwayne nor Koria die at the hands of The Sorceress, we're no help to them if we die because you can't control your emotions and think rationally for once!" Terrador yelled at me, everyone else in the room just fell into shocked silence. "You know what your problem is Blaze? You just can't let go! For 16 years you held onto your hatred of us for what happened in that raid, and now your only son is looking into the eyes of death and you're willing to allow it to take him because you can't trust us enough to go about this intelligently! You have a noble heart Blaze, but you allow your emotions to cloud your judgment far too often. I don't ask your forgiveness for the raid Blaze, but I do ask you to set it aside if not for us, or yourself, then for Dwayne..." Terrador then said.

I wanted to tell him he was wrong, that I was the only rational one here right now. But the more I thought it over, the more right he was. I thought back to all the things I had done since my rescue and reunion with Dwayne and Lisa, my refusal to accept the guardians' hospitality, my anger at learning Bianca used healing magic on Dwayne, my anger at Cynder for harming Lisa when teaching her to fight, I never once thought of the consequences if I had gotten my way, that we would have lived in squalor if we had gone back to the east like I had wanted, that Dwayne would have perished after he nearly drowned in that river if I hadn't let Bianca heal him, that Lisa would be helpless and defenseless if I hadn't let Cynder teach her to defend herself... I never thought things through... not once... too blinded by mistrust to properly look after my own two children...

Terrador's anger softened a little. "They need us Blaze... they need us to trust each other, so we can work together and save their lives. We need to think about this before leaping in, otherwise we're no help to either of them. Please Blaze, I don't want to end up finding them both dead and wingless because we wasted time arguing over this... I can't bear the sight of the body of another young dragon I failed to protect... I just can't." Terrador said, clearly recalling what he had seen in the aftermath of the raid.

How much of a fool I was, I never once even considered they would feel so much guilt over what had happened to the eggs all those years ago, the burden of those deaths constantly looming over their heads, the knowledge they had failed the very unborn children they swore to protect. I was too selfish to look past my own anger to consider the feelings of the guardians. "You're right... I'm sorry..." I said.

Terrador got off me, "Thank you, now then... we can't afford to waste any more time than we need to. I'll go get Spyro and Cynder, they should know about this." Terrador said before turning to Volteer. "Volteer I need you to see if you can make sense of this note and why it was left for us while I'm gone." He said, Volteer nodded and Terrador left to go get Spyro and Cynder.

* * *

_**Meanwhile in the Catacombs...**_

* * *

I seriously couldn't think of a worse situation to be in, I was trapped underground, chained to a dragoness with anger issues, waiting to have my wings chopped off by evil magic geeks, and the only person who could save us was on his way to the wrong castle and right into a trap. Koria just kept biting uselessly at the magic leash trying to break it. "Dude give it up, that's magic, you can't rip it in two." I told her dryly. I knew we were screwed, even if we did manage to get free we had no idea where to go!

"Well then what do you suggest? We sit here and wait to die?!" Koria snapped at me. Well, what else could we do? That thing was bolted to stone, and made of metal so chewing **that** was out of the question, trust me if dragons could chew through metal dad would have escaped from The Sorceress long before me and Lisa found hi-... wait... that's it!

I looked to Koria. "Koria! I have an idea! Use your ice breath on the hook!" I told her, remembering how Spyro had managed to free dad using his ice breath on his chains. Koria gave me a confused look but complied. Blowing her ice onto the metal object until it froze over completely, I quickly smashed it with all my might shattering it and the metal hook into tiny pieces.

We were free now... sort of, we were still chained together unfortunately. "Well, at least we can move now." Koria remarked.

I sighed. "Look, I know you don't like me, like at all, but we're going to have to work together if we're going to get out of here alive." I told her, I knew she'd sooner take her chances with The Sorceress than trust me, but we couldn't get out of here unless we did considering we were both daisy-chained together like this.

Koria thought it over for a moment before responding. "Fine, but I'm leading." She said, before I could object she already started walking, not even trying not to strangle me with the magic leash... wow, even though we were in a life or death situation she still felt the need to be a complete bitch to me...

* * *

_**Back at Warfang...**_

* * *

Terrador had told me and Cynder that Dwayne and Koria had been kidnapped last night by The Sorceress, and more disturbingly, said kidnapper had left a note addressed to me specifically, why they had no clue, but Volteer had apparently found it suspicious enough to call attention to it. I could only imagine how Blaze was taking this, Blaze wasn't hard to set off, and knowing his son was about to have his wings cut off couldn't have been sitting with him well at all.

It wasn't sitting well with me either, I barely knew Koria, but Dwayne had become a close friend in the time since I met him. I couldn't imagine what it must be like for him right now, trapped in The Sorceress' clutches with a dragoness that really doesn't like him. But I'd get him out of there no matter what! I wasn't going to let The Sorceress take any more dragon wings from anyone, especially not one of my friends!

Suddenly we saw Lisa come up to us while we were all on our way to the guardian's chambers to discuss this with the others. "Spyro... have you seen Dwayne? I can't find him anywhere!" Lisa said to us as she approached, clearly not knowing of what had become of her brother. Terrador looked at me, silently asking me if we should tell her, I nodded, she deserved to know, he was her brother after all.

Terrador sighed and turned to Lisa. "Your brother has been kidnapped by the mages along with an ice dragoness named Koria, we're currently formulating a plan to rescue them." Terrador explained to her, Lisa was stunned, horrified at the idea of her older brother in the hands of The Sorceress.

She began to cry, the image of her brother having his wings removed too much for her. I walked over to her. "It's going to be okay Lisa, I won't let anything happen to your brother, we'll find him, I promise." I told her trying to comfort her. Lisa looked at me with tears in her eyes. "Promise me you'll save him Spyro... please." she asked me.

I nodded. "I promise." I told her, we all left for the others after that, Lisa still upset over what she had learned about her brother's situation. She'd recover I know she would, but not until I got Dwayne out of The Sorceress' clutches. Just hang in there Dwayne... I'm coming for you...

* * *

_**Back in The Catacombs...**_

* * *

Moving around, chained to Koria wasn't easy, not helped by how she made no effort at all to accommodate for me. I got that she hated me for embarrassing her in front of everyone, but she took it to such a ridiculous extreme it was just downright sad. Especially since we had to rely on one another to get out of here and find Spyro before he bumbled into The Sorceress' trap, I knew Spyro way too well to think he wouldn't come after me. He was always the big hero who had to save the day even when he really shouldn't. And right now, he **really** shouldn't. My only hope was that we got out of here and got to him before it was too late.

My neck was starting to hurt from all the tugging Koria was doing. "Dude would you knock it off?! I'm attached to this thing too you know!" I said as she continued to drag me around like a dog on a leash.

Koria stopped and turned to me. "How about **you** keep up and stop whining like a hatchling? I just want to get out of here and get this stupid chain off and I'm not going to wait for you to keep up!" She snapped at me before continuing her unending efforts to strangle me with the magic chain that held us together.

Of course soon we found a room that was mostly crumbled away save for a few stray platforms here and there, well this **was** a platforming game, well in context of the human realms it was, man I never really thought about it until now but that was a really confusing concept that Spyro's world existed as it's own actual universe, did that mean other games existed as alternate universes too? No no! Not now Dwayne, we have bigger problems here! I looked down over the edge, boy was it a long way down, I couldn't even hope to see the bottom it was so dark. "Damn... is that a long drop." I commented.

Koria just rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you're afraid of heights! We **can** fly you know?" She said indignantly. She never let a chance to lay into me pass her by did she? Then again I keep giving her ammo so it wasn't like I wasn't partially to blame for that.

I looked at her "Alright, we're going to have to jump at the same time, I don't want one of us to miss their jump and end up dragging both of us down into the death pit or snapping their necks on the chain." I said to her. Koria rolled her eyes but complied. We backed up to get a running start. "Okay, on three... one... two... three!" I said before we both jumped to the next platform cleanly. We repeated the process three more times until we were safely on the other side.

We both looked at each other before silently agreeing to press forward. Walking side by side now and thankfully not dragging me by the neck this time. However she still kept giving me an angry look. "I don't get you..." I said suddenly, she gave me an indignant look. "What do you mean?" She asked me.

I stopped and turned to her. "Why do you hate me so much? It can't just be that I beat you in the duel! Whether you like it or not we're in this together now, and that means whatever grudge you have against me needs to end now if we're going to make it out alive." I said to her. I wasn't going to get killed because she refused to work with me.

However I instantly regretted asking this because she was furious now. "Because I don't like people like you! Cowards who run away from their problems instead of facing them like they should!" Koria snapped at me, her voice echoing through the catacombs. "People like you get others killed! Just like... just like my parents..." Koria said, I froze, knowing I had just opened up an old wound that I really shouldn't have. "It happened during one of the dark army's attacks on our village, mom and dad were trapped in our den, those bastards had collapsed it right on top of them just as they managed to get me out, there was another dragon there, I asked him to help save my parents because I wasn't strong enough to get them free, but the coward ran away when the dark armies came towards us, my parents died because a coward was too concerned for his own safety than the safety of others! And I **know** you're just like that dragon! That you'll just run away when someone else needs you!" Koria said, breaking down into tears.

I just stood there in silence, what could I say? I could deny that I would run, but she wouldn't buy it, I knew she wouldn't. But before I could respond I heard a noise from the distance. I looked to see the mage from before approach us. "What a tragic story.,," I heard the mage from before say as he drew closer. "You two should have stayed put like good little children, but now that you're free, I have no choice but to eliminate you, thankfully you don't have to be alive for me to take your wings, but I have to admit, it won't be as fun without your pained screams and pleas for mercy." He said with a sadistic smile.

Crap! I didn't know if we could fight him all chained up like this, but we'd have to, I wasn't going to die here! Not like this! And not so The Sorceress could be immortal either, she was the **last** person who should ever be allowed eternal life! The mage began to charge up his magic "Prepare to die little dragons..." The mage said before turning to Koria. "Don't look so frightened, you'll get to be with your parents again very soon..." He added so sickly sweet it almost gave me a cavity. I just hope we can beat dingweed here before Spyro get's trapped by The Sorceress!

* * *

**A/N- It looks like we're gonna have ourselves a fight here folks! Will Dwayne and Koria be able to work together to beat Rikor? Find out next chapter!**

**Update: It looks like for whatever reason the chapter wasn't showing up, so I removed it and re-uploaded it in hopes it would show.**


	20. The Battle Begins

**Author's Note- Okay, I know, I took a LOT longer than I usually do with my chapters (I try to get at least one up a day unless something comes up in my real life (yes, I have a life... stop laughing!), and I do have an explanation... it's just not a very good one. (Unless you count wasting an entire day playing Mass Effect as a good reason for procrastination) **

**But I've managed to pull myself away from my new Mass Effect addiction to put out this chapter. (curse you BioWare! I will have VENGANCE!) So without further delay, well, here you go.**

* * *

**Chapter 20: The Battle Begins**

* * *

I was growing more and more worried by the second, Dwayne and Koria were in The Sorceress' clutches, and all so they could get **my** attention, but why? Volteer seemed to be convinced it was a trap, Dwayne and Koria nothing more than bait to draw me in. While I could see how that is, I wasn't even going to consider leaving them to die just to save my own scales. Dwayne was a good person, and Koria... she's... uh... there... Okay Koria has anger issues and admittedly she kinda scares me, but no one deserved to have their wings cut off to make a sick, twisted sorceress immortal!

But The Guardians insisted we wait and plan. I was getting impatient, the idea of those two being tortured was gnawing at me more and more as each second passed. I could see that Blaze was having similar problems as he was fidgeting around uncomfortably. I can't imagine how hard this must be on him, his only son held by The Sorceress, not even knowing if he was alive or dead. The Guardians kept trying to come up with a plan, sending a platoon of Warfang soldiers to The Sorceress' castle, having me stay behind while the others went after them, Blaze going in alone, I hated each one.

I hated them because they all involved lives being put at risk while I sat there worrying, good people put in harms way while I did nothing. I would have said something, but I knew I wouldn't get anywhere with them. "We have to think of something! We're running out of time here!" Terrador growled in frustration.

Volteer turned to Terrador. "I understand Terrador, but we mustn't lose our heads. Dwayne and Koria are both counting on us. We have to think this through or risk jeopardizing their lives as well as our own!" Volteer said.

I had to step in, I couldn't waste any more time. "It's clearly me they want, I'm going after them!" I said, I was sick of waiting, sick of giving The Sorceress a chance to kill Dwayne and Koria! I had to do something.

However none of the Guardians liked that plan, I could tell by the looks on their faces. "Absolutely not! Spyro I know you're concerned for your friends, we all are, but if The Sorceress wants you for something, it cannot be good." Terrador said sternly. I knew that! But I didn't care! Those two were in danger! Possibly dying! I can't just sit here and do nothing!

"Terrador is right Spyro, I know you don't want to hear this, but you're too valuable to risk like that. I don't want to leave them in the clutches of The Sorceress anymore than you do, but a dragon as powerful as yourself in the hands of The Sorceress could only spell doom for us all." Cyril said, I just stood there in shock over what he had just said. That I was worth more than the lives of two innocent dragons! "Oh! So that's how it is then? I'm too "important" to risk my life to save my friends?! That it's better them than me?! That I should just sit here and wait for Dwayne and Lisa to die so I won't?!" I lashed out.

Cyril gave me an angry look. "I never said I wanted to leave them Spyro! Only a soulless fool would leave two innocent children to rot in that foul woman's clutches. But I also don't want to risk **you** being in her clutches either! I'm not suggesting abandoning them, I'm asking you to stand down and let **us** rescue them!" Cyril argued.

Terrador sighed. "Cyril has a point Spyro, I want Dwayne and Koria back here safe and sound just like you do, but some battles Spyro, even you must turn away from, and let others fight in your stead. We're not asking you to abandon them, we're asking you to let us handle this." Terrador said. I couldn't believe this! Dwayne was my **friend**! I can't sit here and do nothing! I refuse to! I can't take this anymore! I turned around and walked away, furious at how willing they were to keep me from rescuing my friend.

* * *

I watched as Spyro stormed off, he wasn't taking the idea of sitting this out well, but it had to be this way, I wanted my son rescued more than anything, but The Guardians were right, Spyro was too powerful, too important to risk being caught in The Sorceress clutches. With the Purple Dragon's magic power who knew what The Sorceress could do with it. Saving Dwayne and Koria would be pointless if The Sorceress was immortal, unstoppable, she would surely come and kill us all after the fear of death was no longer a factor.

I didn't want Spyro to go, I didn't want anyone to go but myself, I was Dwayne's father, and the one who put him in this situation in the first place, I should be the one to undo my mistake, or pay for it with my life. "I want to go alone, Dwayne's my son, and I put him and Koria in this position in the first place, I should be the one to risk death for the mess I made." I said, I knew they'd object, they were too kindhearted not to. But this was how I wanted it. I didn't want anyone to die for my mistakes.

Terrador stormed up to me. "Not on your life Blaze! That's suicide and you know it!" Terrador growled. I should have known he'd be the one to argue with me over this. "It's how it should be Terrador! I have the least to lose! You and your fellow guardians have an entire city to look after, Cynder, Lisa, Taven, and Darius an entire life ahead of them, Bianca sins to repent, what do I have?" I asked him point blank.

Terrador shook his head. "Two children who love you! I could never live with myself if I let you go alone to die with two children left without a father! We all have something to lose here Blaze, I won't let you go alone, I'll restrain you if I have to!" Terrador asserted. I looked over to my daughter, she said nothing but her eyes told me to listen to him. A silent plea for me to reconsider my choice. I wanted to ignore it, say it had to be this way but I couldn't, Terrador was right, I had abandoned them for 12 long years, I owed it to the both of them to be there for them now.

Even if that meant I had to risk the lives of others. "Then what do you suggest?" I asked him simply. I wanted something, anything we could use to rescue my son and Koria. I couldn't stand the idea of leaving them there a second longer.

However, suddenly Lisa began to walk over to the pool of visions. Possibly looking into it for answers. She paused in concentration, until she began to enter a trance, me and everyone else in the room fell silent, not wishing to break her focus for what she finds could very well save Dwayne and Koria's lives. Lisa then stopped, and looked to us. "Dwayne's not in The Sorceress' castle!" She said in startled realization. We all stopped, if he wasn't in The Sorceress' castle, where else could he be?

The Guardians all shared my confusion, "Lisa, if he isn't in The Sorceress' castle, where is he?" Volteer asked her.

Lisa stopped and thought for a moment, she obviously had no clue where it was she saw him in the pool. But she was trying I could tell, "It was dark, it kinda looked like ruins or an ancient temple of some kind." Lisa described.

Cynder suddenly realized something. "The Catacombs! Where me and Spyro first woke up after the Night of Eternal Darkness!" Cynder said, putting the pieces together.

Everyone puzzled over this new information. "Why would they take them there and not to the castle?" Cyril asked.

However Terrador figured it out. "To throw us off." Terrador said causing everyone to turn to him. "They wanted Spyro to go to The Sorceress' castle so they could capture him, and moved Dwayne and Koria to The Catacombs so they wouldn't run the risk of him rescuing them or them coming to his aid when captured." Terrador said.

I stepped forward. "But if we send Spyro to The Catacombs instead, they won't expect him." I said, surely they wouldn't be ready for an attack on The Catacombs since they were banking on us attacking their stronghold instead. Poor fools had no clue we were onto them either, it was perfect. We all agreed on the plan, Spyro and his allies would go to The Catacombs to rescue Dwayne and Koria.

I volunteered to tell Spyro of our plans, I was certain he would be pleased to hear there was a means to which he could aid us without risking capture. However I couldn't seem to find him anywhere. "Spyro? SPYRO?!" I called, he... he didn't... he left for The Sorceress' castle! I should have known he wouldn't let us handle this without him! Made worse by the fact he was going to the wrong place! I wasted no time in flying out of the temple, hoping to the ancestors that I could catch him before it was too late...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Fighting while chained to another dragon was a task easier said than done, this magic chain was making it hard to stick and move, which had become my usual tactic in fights as of late. Not helped by Koria's refusal to work with me. The lizard mage just kept firing his magic missiles at us, me and Koria had both found ourselves repeatedly blindsided by the attacks thanks to our magic leash constantly getting in the way. Worse yet this guy knew it too, he took every advantage, getting a good shot in every time we were tripped up by the leash. It was beginning to get downright comical at this point.

The Lizard mage laughed at us. "What's wrong dragons? The leash getting in the way? That's unfortunate..." He mocked us. This guy was such an ass I really wanted to pound him into the ground. But of course this leash was gonna make that as difficult as possible. "You should have resigned to your fate when you first got to the Dragon Realms Dwayne, you were never meant to live your life! You dragons are a blight on this planet! You don't deserve to live in this world! No dragon does! After what your kind almost did I'm offended the other races were so quick to forgive you demons! Just accept your death Dwayne, it is inevitable!" He then spat at us.

I got up, "Never! I'm not going to be called a demon by the sicko that cuts the wings off of innocent baby dragons!" I shot back. He had **no** right to lecture **me** on morality after he caused those young dragons to suffer and die so horribly.

However the mage just scoffed. "There is no such thing as an innocent dragon Dwayne. You're ALL vile creatures! I'm doing this world a service by eliminating you foul creatures from this earth!" The mage snapped back.

Me and Koria rushed back into action firing our breath elements at him but he managed to get a good shot on us knocking us both to the ground. Me and Koria to beaten to get up. "You fools are not worthy of life!" He said before taking a knife out of his robe. "And now... your resistance ends..." He said before taking Koria by the wing. The mage had a manic look in his eye as he began to saw at her wing with the knife, Koria's eyes shot open as the blade pierced her wing and began to scream a horrible howl of agony. Blood beginning to trickle from where the blade dug in.

That maniac was cutting her wing off! I may not like her, but I would sooner jump into a nuclear reactor than let anyone suffer **this**. "Get off her!" I yelled before getting him right in the face with a fireball, knocking him back and possibly burning into his flesh pretty bad given how he was writhing in pain on the floor.

I rushed over to her, she was in a lot of pain, I could tell from the tears pouring down her face. "You okay?" I asked her, Koria looked at me not with her usual bitter hatred but... fear... she was terrified, having her wing cut into by a maniac I'd be concerned if she wasn't. "It... hurts..." She said shakily.

I did the only thing I could, I embraced her, hoping having someone close would help her feel safer. I had expected her to push me away or worse deck me for doing this, but she offered no resistance at all, she just buried her head in my chest, sobbing uncontrollably.

"DWANYE!"

I turned to see the lizard mage standing back up, his face was horribly burned and mangled from the fireball he took point blank. He was furious, and I knew that knife in his hand had my name on it. He rushed at me with it, yelling like a barbarian. I wanted to duck out of the way but I wasn't going to let Koria pay for my cowardice. I ducked my head down, horns facing out in hopes it would at least hold him back.

SHUNK!

My eyes shot open the second I heard the sound of my horns piercing flesh, I tried to move my head up but there was a clear weight. I heard coughing coming from the lizard mage, and felt a wet substance drip on my head, which could have only been... blood. I felt the weight vanish when I heard the sounds of my horns being removed from his body, said body falling limply to the floor, only now could I see what I had done.

He had two stab wounds right in his abdomen, blood was pouring from his mouth like a fountain. He was still somehow alive as he looked at me weakly. "You... little... sh**... you... you actually... killed me... killed by a child!... I hope... The Sorceress kills you both... slowly..." He coughed. I'd be upset that I just killed someone, but this guy was a psycho who's hobby was cutting baby dragon's wings off. Yeah I don't feel all that bad for him. "I'll see you... in hell Dwayne... very soon..." He said with a laugh before death finally claimed him.

Koria slowly walked up next to me. "Y... you killed him!" She said in shock, well I didn't **mean** to! He was the nitwit that ran into the sharp dragon horns like an idiot! Koria then walked over to the dead mage and kicked him with her front leg. "I hope he suffered! He was nothing but a black hearted monster!" She growled. I went to leave, knowing we had to get out of here before Spyro got to The Sorceress' castle but Koria didn't move, causing the leash to stop me. I turned to see her looking at me. "Y... you saved my life... why? I... I did nothing but yell at you since we met!" She asked me.

"Because it wasn't right, what he was doing to you. You and I may not see eye to eye, but that doesn't mean you deserve to die for it." I told her honestly. Koria just stared at me like a deer in the headlights. Her brain unable to process that I saved her from the crazed mage. "I just wish I didn't have to be covered in mage guts." I said trying to lighten the mood. Although to be fair, it really was unpleasant being covered in someone's blood.

Koria actually laughed, the first time I had heard her show any positive emotion. "When we get out of here me can find a lake or pond for you to wash off in." Koria said before we both left. It felt wrong to leave that mage's body there, but I wasn't going to drag it around either, and to be quite honest, I don't think he deserved a proper burial anyway...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Thankfully Spyro hadn't gone far as I caught up to him in no time, he had no idea I was even following him given how he made no effort to lose me. I moved in quickly, managing to catch him by surprise and tackle him to the ground. Spyro let out a cry of shock as I collided with him, we both hit the ground and I quickly pinned him down so he couldn't fly away, Spyro writhing around, desperately trying to get free. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO DAMN YOU!" He screamed in defiance.

But I would not heed his pleas, I kept him pinned. "Spyro stop it!" I ordered him. Spyro stopped, but gave me an angry look. "You're heading right into a trap! Dwayne isn't even **in** her castle!" I added, hoping it would be enough to get him to understand.

But Spyro just glared a hateful glare at me. "Don't lie to me Blaze! I'm saving them and you can't stop me!" Spyro snapped at me before trying to get out from under me, he may have been the great purple dragon of legend, but I had the size advantage, he could not break free from under me no matter how much he squirmed.

I growled. "SPYRO! I speak the truth! Lisa had a vision, she saw that he and Koria were in The Catacombs you awoke in after the Night of Eternal Darkness! It was a trap all along Spyro, she wanted to lure you to her castle so she could capture you and take your wings! But now we know where they really are, and we can save them together if you'll just work with me!" I said.

Spyro stopped after that, I cautiously let him out from under me, he got up and turned to me. "But what about the others?" He asked me. I simply shook my head. "We don't have time to get the others, it's best if we got alone." I told him, I was still very much against risking the others for my mistake, but now that Spyro wasn't at risk of being captured I was more comfortable with letting him come with me. Spyro nodded and we both flew off towards The Catacombs.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Rikor was dead, I could sense it, somehow, someway, those two dragons had managed to kill him, Rikor was always such an idiot anyway, it was only a matter of time that his foolishness would cost him his life. But now the problem arose that now the two dragons were loose, and could even warn the purple dragon of my trap! Well... if you want something done right...

You have to do it yourself...

* * *

**A/N- Well, Rikor's dead... but now it seems The Sorceress is rolling on over to our heroes to bust some heads! Will Dwayne and Koria be able to get out of The Catacombs with their lives before then? Well you'll just have to wait until I can pull myself away from Mass Effect again to find out...**

**Don't look at me like that!... I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM!**


	21. From Bad to Worse

**Author's Note: I bet you're wondering why I took so long to put this one out, well I took a short break from this story to let ideas come forward on their own. If you've noticed, I'd been struggling these last few chapters and as a result the quality was going down. I hate making you guys wait, but sometimes I need a breather to keep myself into it. I hope you understand and thank you for still being willing to read.**

* * *

**Chapter 21: From Bad to Worse**

* * *

Man did this catacomb go on forever! Me and Koria had to be wandering through this thing for hours after killing the mage dude. In that time I began to notice that Koria was acting very differently towards me, she hadn't insulted me even once since we killed the mage. Maybe she was just grateful I saved her life? Or maybe she finally realized antagonizing me wasn't going to help either of us get out of here. The latter was probably more likely, I'm sure once we got out of here, found Spyro, and went back to Warfang she'd be hurling insults at me left and right as usual.

We finally came to a stop in the middle of a room, a spirit gem cluster sitting right there. "We should stop and regain our strength, you'll never know when we'll need it." Koria said to me. She had a point, who knows if that mage had friends down here, and I'd rather be at full strength if we do end up running into them. We both approached it but before we could give it a good whack suddenly it glowed a bright blue causing both of us to avert our eyes.

"Do not fear young dragons, I mean you no harm."

Me and Koria looked to see some kind of hologram or astral projection of an older dragon in some kind of weird cape/robe thing. I recognized him instantly from the games, it was The Chronicler, formally known as Ignitus. "You two have done well to survive this far children, however you must make haste, for The Sorceress is making her move." The Chronicler told us.

Me and Koria gave each other confused looks, not sure what to do with the information. "What do you mean? Why contact us over this?" I asked him point blank.

Ignitus paused, "Because I fear your situation is far more dire than you know." Said The Chronicler. "The Sorceress seeks Spyro's wings to complete her immortality potion, however the consequences of her success are far worse than you know, if she completes and ingests the potion, Spyro's power will overwhelm her, making her immortal, but also increasing her magic power far beyond even her comprehension. No other creature was ever meant to wield the power of the Purple Dragon, it will consume her, drive her literally mad with power. She will become an unstoppable, mindless killing machine seeking only destruction." The Chronicler added.

Of course it would, because her hacking my friend's wings off wasn't bad enough right? It had to turn her into an immortal death machine to boot. "What do you want us to do about it?" Koria asked Ignitus. Ignitus' face remained unchanged, "You must stop her before she can capture Spyro and complete the potion. Or else all will be lost. She knows of Rikor's death, and is on her way to The Catacombs as we speak, as are Spyro and Blaze, you two must work as one, and end The Sorceress mad schemes." Ignitus told us.

Oh great, we had to beat up The Sorceress, and it was gonna be soon too because she was headed our way! I don't know **how** Spyro and dad figured out we were here and not at The Sorceress' castle, but hopefully they'd get here before her so we could fill them in on what we just learned. "Thanks for telling us Chronicler, we'll tell Spyro as soon as we find him." I told Ignitus, who was pleased with what I said. "I know you will Dwayne, I wish you both luck. May the ancestors look after you, may they look after us all." He said before vanishing.

I turned to Koria. "We'd better move, who knows how long we have before The Sorceress finds Spyro down here!" I told her, Koria nodded and we both legged it. Hoping to find Spyro before The Sorceress found him, or us.

* * *

_**Meanwhile at The Sorceress' Castle...**_

* * *

I made sure I had every mage and Husk on standby, I was done playing games with these moronic overgrown lizards! I would have the purple dragon even if I had to wipe out every other dragon in existence to do it! I would send my armies to Warfang as well as The Catacombs to insure that purple dragon would be mine, I didn't even care if it was dead or alive at this point, my patience was wearing quite thin after losing my top two apprentices to those dragons. And I was going to end this, and end it now.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Me and Spyro arrived at where the Mountain of Malefor once stood, the catacombs beneath held my only son and Koria, plus who knows how many of The Sorceress' minions. But I will fight to hell and back if it meant my son would still have his wings by the end of this. I sincerely hoped she was there herself, so that I could end her torment of my kind, my kin, and my family. I'll kill her myself, tare her black heart from her chest for all she had done. It was because of her that I lost my mate, that I was separated from my children for 12 long, painful years, and that my kin lived in squalor for ancestors know how long.

Spyro and I rushed in, the catacombs were enormous, they could be **anywhere** in here! But I won't give up, my son was in here, possibly dying, I couldn't give up on him. "We could spent years searching these catacombs and never find them..." I said. Spyro shook his head. "We'll find them, we just have to keep looking." Spyro told me before going to begin his search.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Me and Koria spent a hilarious amount of time lost in The Catacombs. God I hope this doesn't end up being how I die, killing a mage only to get lost forever in The Catacombs and dying of malnutrition. What a horrible way to go. Koria seemed to share my concerns given her expression. "Dwayne... I don't like this, this is the fifth dead end we've hit. What if we don't... make it out?" Koria asked me, panic in her eyes.

I shook my head. "No way, I'm not giving up! Not now." I said, trying to use confidence to hide how scared I really was, I knew there had to be a way out of here, but unfortunately I had no idea where it was or how we'd find it, but if we didn't Spyro was screwed too because we were the only ones who knew how bad The Sorceress becoming immortal really was! No... NO! Keep it together Reed, don't break down.

Koria then suddenly stopped when we heard something. "Wh... what was that?" She asked. What made her think I knew?! I just hoped whatever it was, it was friendly. Suddenly I heard it again, it sounded like two voices, I couldn't pin who they were because they sounded pretty far away, but I wasn't sure I wanted to stick around to find out either. "Come on, they might not be friendly." I said.

However Koria stopped me. "You heard what The Chronicler said, that Spyro and your dad were on their way here. What if it's them?" Koria said to me. Making it a point to stay where she was so I couldn't move thanks to our damn leash. Well, her cooperation was fun while it lasted. She was going to get us killed before long. I knew getting leashed to her would be my undoing!

However suddenly the wall behind us freaking exploded like it was hit with a wrecking ball, and through the broken wall stepped my father, accompanied by Spyro. Dad's face lit up when he saw me, and he rushed over to me and nuzzled me. "Dwayne! Thank The Ancestors you're alright..." Dad said, overwhelmed with joy upon learning I was okay.

Spyro seemed just as happy to see me and Koria still had our wings. But he stopped and looked around. "Where's the mage that kidnapped you?" He asked. Oh man... I didn't want to tell him, I **really** didn't. Would you want to tell one of your closest friends that you just murdered someone? Yeah I didn't think so.

Koria looked over to me. "Dwayne killed him." Koria said. Dammit Koria! What the hell?! You don't just tell someone their friend **killed** someone! I dared a glance at Spyro who seemed just as shocked as anyone would upon hearing they were in the presence of a killer.

Dad noticed how uncomfortable and guilty I looked. "Do not feel any pity for that mage Dwayne, you did the world a service by removing that vermin from this world." Dad said rather coldly. Sure, he was a kill crazy psycho who liked cutting the wings off dragons waaaay more than he should. But I still killed someone, and after being taught all my life by humans that killing was horrible and unforgivable, that wasn't exactly something I could shake.

Spyro seemed to realize this given his expression. "It was still his first kill Blaze, he still needs time to recover from it." Spyro said, dad nodded, not wanting to stress me anymore than he needed.

I stepped forward. "However, we have another problem." I said. I walked a short distance away from Koria so they could see the leash. Spyro's eyes went wide when he saw it, but they quickly went to anger. "I thought I'd never see that again..." He said coldly, no doubt having flashbacks about his time chained to Cynder. However dad was confused. "What the hell is it?" He asked Spyro.

Spyro turned to dad. "It's a bounding spell, Malefor used it on me and Cynder during the later stages of the war. The worst part is that only the mage who cast it could undo it." Spyro said. Oh come on! You mean to tell me that I had **just** killed the **only** guy who could get us out of this?! I'm gonna be chained to Koria for the rest of my life aren't I?

Dad shook his head. "We'll figure it out later, right now we need to find our way back to Warfang." Dad said. He was right, we needed to get out of here now before... oh wait! I almost forgot what The Chronicler had told us!

"Wait! While me and Koria were running around trying to get out of here, The Chronicler contacted us." I said, I can't believe I almost forgot to tell Spyro this, it was a tad important. Spyro stopped and turned to me. Clearly confused.

Koria decided to back me up. "He said that The Sorceress is targeting Spyro, and if she gets Spyro's wings... she'll become an immortal monster, unable to even control her own magic. She needs to be stopped now more than ever." Koria said. Spyro was obviously very uneasy with this news, nervously looking at his wings.

However Spyro shook it off. "I think it's about time we put an end to all this once and for all." Spyro said with his usual determination. I couldn't disagree, this whole Sorceress thing needed to be put to rest and soon before more lives were lost.

Suddenly there was a loud rumbling coming from outside, we all looked out from the hole my father made to see a boatload of mages come charging in, some riding on the backs of husks. There had to be no less than fifty of them! I guess The Sorceress had figured out that things weren't exactly going her way right now. "Crap! Look at them all! What do we do?" I asked no one in particular.

Dad glared at the mage army. "We have no choice, we have to fight our way out." He said, I was afraid of that, but he was right, no way we were getting out of these catacombs without any resistance from The Sorceress' geek squad here. I just hoped I was up for this.

* * *

_**Meanwhile back at Warfang...**_

* * *

I can't believe Blaze just left! He said he had gone into the halls to find Spyro, but both he **and** Spyro were nowhere to be found. They must have gone off to find Dwayne and Koria on their own! Me, Lisa, Taven, Darius, and Bianca all went to search the temple for the two. "Cynder calm down, we don't know for sure if they actually left without us." Darius said to me as we searched the temple for them.

I shook my head. "They would have come right back to us if they hadn't left the temple Darius. They left without us!" I replied. I wasn't stupid, I knew Spyro better than to think he wouldn't do this, the less people at risk the better, that was always how he worked. It was one of his most infuriating traits, being too noble for his own good. Ancestors, when I see him again I'm going to ring his little purple neck until his head pops off like a grape!

Bianca suddenly stopped. "What is it Bianca?" Taven asked, however the rabbit mage didn't answer, just pausing as if listening for something. We all just gawked at her, completely confused. Was this a mage thing I wasn't aware of? Or was she just messing with us?

Bianca finally decided to clear things up. "Mages are coming this way, thousands of them. I can sense their magic energy from here." She clarified. What?! Why?! Why are they coming here?! Aren't they trying to trap Spyro? I guess the plan must have changed or something. "And they brought plenty of husks with them." She added. Oh that's nice, we had to warn the guardians! I didn't know if we were ready for this kind of assault. We were still recovering from the last one!

We all rushed outside to see if Bianca was telling the truth, and sadly she was, because we saw several small black specks in the sky coming towards the city. There had to be at least a thousand of them! Taven was clearly made nervous by this sight judging by his expression. "I think The Sorceress has had quite enough of us." He said. This made no sense, why was she starting a full on assault on Warfang? Something with her plans must have gone wrong or something, because I can't think of any other reason she'd throw all of her mages at us out of the blue like this.

We all rushed to the guardian's chambers, they had to know about this! I doubted we had any time to prepare, but it was better than them being blindsided by it. Of all times for Spyro to disappear it had to be now didn't it?

* * *

**A/N- We're nearing the end folks, The Sorceress has had enough of our heroes and is sending every mage and his brother to take them down, will our heroes stop these mages? Or will The Sorceress finally get Spyro's wings? Stay tuned!**


	22. A Fight for Survival

**Chapter 22: A Fight for Survival**

* * *

It didn't take long for magic and elements to start flying as both dragon and mage engaged one another, thankfully for us these dweebs couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Me and Koria took cover behind a rock as magic missiles pinged against the stone like bullets from a gun. "This is crazy! How the hell are we gonna get out of here with all this magic flying everywhere?!" Koria asked me, yelling so I could hear her over all the noise. I had no clue, even if I **wasn't** chained to Koria I'd be screwed, all it would take were a few lucky shots and there would be one less eastern dragon in the realms or worse two.

I'd played enough third person shooters to know it was best to fire from cover when pinned down like this, I'd occasionally bring my head out from the rock I was hiding behind to get off one or two fire balls, whether they hit their targets or not I'd never know because I wasn't stupid enough to keep my head exposed long enough to find out. If you had told me I'd be in this kind of situation last week I would have called you insane. "So what? We hide behind this rock and shoot blindly at them every now and then? That's your plan?!" Koria shouted at me.

Well if she wanted to become a magic missile magnet that was her choice, but I was gonna fight this one smart. I shot off another fireball, I knew I hit this time because I heard a mage scream as he lit on fire. "Well yeah, I don't want to get shot!" I snapped back at her. I managed to get a peek long enough to see that these nitwits were making **no** effort to take cover, standing out in the open shooting magic hadokens at us like there was no tomorrow. Apparently taking cover was for squares in the Dragon Realms. "We can bring down their numbers if we fight smart. Look at these tools, they're standing out in the open just begging us to bombard them with our breath elements! Koria thought it over a moment, and apparently found that I was right as she joined me in firing her element at them from cover, shooting ice shards at them like shuriken.

Koria looked to me. "Where did this tactic come from?" She asked me before firing a few more icicle pot shots at the mages. I'd tell her but, I doubt they had a lot of video games in The Dragon Realms, kinda ironic given this world being a video game itself in the Human Realms. Soon enough their numbers began to lessen as none of this boobs seemed to think ducking would be helpful when having fire balls and ice shards fired at you. I hope The Sorceress doesn't pay these guys much. "Dwayne look out!" I heard Koria shout.

But before I could react I felt a very painful burn on my front right leg, one of those mages got a lucky shot in and grazed my leg with what I think was a fire spell but I wasn't sure. But man did it hurt! You'd think me being a fire dragon would mean I'd have some resistance to burns but nope. Koria fired off a few ice shots before dragging me by the horn out of the line of fire.

Koria then blew her ice breath on my arm, the cold soothing the burns a bit. "You okay?" She asked me, I nodded, still wincing from the pain. I suddenly heard a loud boom accompanied by the sound of a dragon's roar. Me and Koria saw two flaming mages fly over us and onto the ground where they flailed around trying to put themselves out. Suddenly my dad peered over the rock we were using as cover. "You two okay?" He asked us. We both nodded and dad quickly went back to beating the tar out of these magic throwing nerds.

Dad was definitely more... direct with his attack than we were, diving right into the crowd of mages and whacking them in various directions with his horns. I craned my head over to see Spyro manhandling these goons in his own way. He was pretty quick on his feet knocking them into the air and headbutting them midair and into their buddies like bowling pins. Occasionally using a breath element or two to keep them at bay.

Me and Koria, now able to move from cover safely, sprung into action, I knocked one mage over with my horns while Koria threw her ice breath at some others, hilariously turning them into snowballs, complete with hands and feet sticking out like something out of a cartoon. Inspiration struck and I headbutted one sending it rolling towards more mages and running them over. Koira followed my example and sent another one hurdling towards his buddies, said buddies running away but to no avail. Me and Koria shared a laugh at the sight of mages running for dear life from giant snowballs.

However our laughter was cut short by the sounds of husks stomping their way towards us, of course they brought husks with them, why wouldn't they? Me and Koria dodged a tail swipe by one, thankfully moving as one so our chain didn't strangle us. The husks threw their respective breath elements our way but Koria made an ice shield to protect us from the barrage. I quickly shot a fireball at one of the husks, hitting it flush in the face causing it to crash to the ground. Another one went in for a claw swipe but Koria was right on it freezing it's face solid. Said face shattering like glass when it hit the floor.

It was amazing how far we had come since we were first chained together, at first we couldn't stand the sight of one another, now we were fighting together like a well oiled machine! If we can keep going like this we might just make it out of these catacombs will all our limbs still attached.

* * *

_**Meanwhile At Warfang...**_

* * *

I couldn't help but be nervous, those mages were coming in for a full on assault on Warfang with Spyro and Dad nowhere in sight. Not to mention Dwayne and Koria were also still missing which didn't help at all. The guardians wasted no time in getting every one who could fight prepared for the invasion as best they could. This included me, despite Cynder's best efforts to teach me, I still wasn't much of a fighter, I had always preferred the peaceful route, but I highly doubted these mages would be willing to listen to reason.

But I had to be strong, Cynder did have a point, I did let Dwayne fight my battles too much, and now that he wasn't here to protect me, I had to protect myself. Me and the others all stood in front of the temple, ready to take on the army that was charging right at us. There had to be thousands of mages and husks in that army. And we had to take them all on. Several of Warfangs citizens had already begun engaging some of them with improvised weaponry, including one mole mercilessly thwacking a mage with a broom. Cynder walked up beside me. "You ready?" She asked me.

No... no I really wasn't, but what choice did I have? "As ready as I'll ever be..." I replied. Cynder looked at me with a grin. "You'll do fine as long as you keep your nerve." Cynder told me. Yeah, I'll do that...

I turned to the charging mages who had already begun shooting magic our way, with a loud cry I charged right at them, horns out, my head bobbed a bit from the impact of hitting the mages but I kept going, plowing through the horde like a freight train. I then managed to see a fountain in my path soon enough to stop myself from ramming right into it. I turned my head to see everyone else was engaging the armies as well. Taven cutting through them with his sword, Bianca blasting them with her own magic, Cynder slashing at them with her tail blade, and Darius taking them on with a knife I didn't even know he had.

I suddenly felt something grab me, it was one of the mages. He laughed as I struggled to get free from his grip. "You're a bit small to be fighting here aren't you little one?" He said to me with a sickening smirk. I managed to get him right in the face with my claws causing him to loose his grip and clutch his face. "You little brat! I'll grind you into dust!" He screamed before firing a magic spell right at me, I managed to roll out of the way just in time.

I shot back with a fire blast but he blocked it with a magic shield and quickly retorted with another spell that managed to hit me flush knocking me into a couple of barrels. "You're way out of your league kid, why don't you go cry home to your mommy?" The mage cackled. I had no response for that, at least not a verbal one, I did have a fire ball for him though, I shot it right at his face catching him off guard as he burst into flames.

I just stood there, shocked that I just lit someone on fire, the mage flailed around as he tried in vain to put himself out, his horrible screams of agony made me cringe. The idea of killing still didn't sit well with me, although in my defense he **was** trying to kill me. But I still couldn't stand to watch it as I quickly moved away from the burning mage. Oh Dwayne... where are you?

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Soon enough we managed to take them all out, husk and mage alike laid sprawled all over the floors of the Catacombs either dead or unconscious. "We should go now before more come." Dad said. I couldn't disagree, I'd had enough of this place for ten life times. Dad began to lead us to the exit, soon enough we were outside and into the sunlight, something I, a couple hours earlier, thought I'd never see again.

However Spyro suddenly stopped. "Blaze, take Dwayne and Koria back to Warfang, I have something I want to take care of." Spyro said, all three of us gave the purple dragon confused looks. What was he going to... oh no... he isn't... is he?

I jumped in Spyro's path so fast poor Koria got yanked by our chain so violently she fell over. "No way! You aren't seriously going to try to take on The Sorceress by yourself are you?!" I snapped at him, I knew Spyro was a major boyscout who'd sooner part with limbs than put his friends in danger, but this? The Sorceress would have some kind of ambush waiting for him, he'd get killed if he went alone.

Spyro glared at me. "I am. This has to end Dwayne, the longer she lives the more danger everyone is in, I have to stop it." Spyro said before attempting to walk around me but I just moved in his way again. "Like hell you are!" I protested. I could tell Spyro was getting frustrated as I could hear a small growl coming from him. But I wasn't going to let him get himself killed like an idiot. "I have to! Get out of my way Dwayne!" Spyro snarled at me.

I just glared at him, he was seriously dead set on storming The Sorceress' castle alone. "No! You go there alone you'll get killed! At least let me come with you!" I said, if I couldn't get him to come with us to Warfang at least I could tag along to help his odds.

However Spyro seemed to like this plan even less given his expression. "Not on your life! This is something I have to do alone. I won't risk your life if I don't have to Dwayne." Spyro said. I know Spyro's not one to put others in danger, but he was seriously willing to get killed if it meant none of us were in the line of fire!

I wasn't going to let him do this! Spyro had become one of my closest friends since I came to the Dragon Realms. If he died because I didn't stop him from going in alone I'd never be able to forgive myself. "Spyro, you go in there by yourself and you won't last ten seconds before The Sorceress unleashes whatever ambush she has waiting for you. Some things you can't do alone." I said firmly.

Dad suddenly stepped in. "And you will die as well if you go with him Dwayne! You and Koria need to go back to Warfang, if anyone should accompany Spyro, it should be me." Dad said, I should have known dad wouldn't approve of me going with Spyro. But I wasn't going to sit on the sidelines as Spyro got killed, let alone both him **and** my father!

At this time Koria managed to get to her feet. "This is stupid! Forget Warfang! We should all go! Spyro's right if we don't stop The Sorceress now she's just going to keep attacking us and more and more people will die!" Koria said to me and dad before turning to Spyro. "But you need to knock it off with this "noble hero" crap and let us help you! Dwayne's right, if you go in alone you won't get past the front gate. Even the purple dragon of legend needs a helping hand sometimes." Koria said to him.

Spyro just stood there for a while, glaring at Koria as if he was trying to find an excuse to keep us from coming with him but couldn't find one. He finally sighed. "Fine... but I think Blaze should go back to Warfang to check on things." Spyro said.

Dad snarled. "Like hell!" Dad said but Spyro held his ground. "Blaze please, I highly doubt The Sorceress just sent her armies our way, I want someone to make sure that everyone in Warfang is okay and since Dwayne and Koria are chained together our numbers are better if you go." Spyro explained. Dad's face remained unchanged, however I could see tears forming in his eyes.

I stepped forward, coming face to face with my father, well as "face to face" as one could be given he was a **lot** bigger than me. "Dad please, let me do this. Lisa's still in Warfang, she might need you a lot more than I do right now." I said trying to get him to listen.

Dad closed his eyes and shook his head. "No! I can't... I can't lose you Dwayne... I can't." Dad said breaking down.

"I know dad, but I want you to trust me, trust that I can do this without you. Dad please... I'm not a little kid anymore, you can't protect me forever." I insisted. Dad sat there in silence, I could tell how much he wanted to say no, to make me go home where I would be safe.

He then looked to me, his eyes watering. "I trust you son, I'll go back to Warfang despite how much it pains me to abandon you now, you're not a child anymore, you're becoming a grown dragon, and you deserve to have my trust that you can stand on your own." Dad said, it was clear how much that hurt him to say. To let me go, but he knew I had to do this myself. He then looked to Spyro. "Spyro, I ask you humbly that you bring my son back home when The Sorceress falls." He said to him.

Spyro nodded. "I promise." He said simply. Dad then nuzzled me. "Make me proud son... and may our ancestors lead you to victory." Dad said to me. "I will." I said to him, Dad smiled at me before hesitantly flying off to Warfang.

Spyro then began to lead us to The Sorceress' castle. But Koria stopped me. "Spyro you go on ahead, we'll catch up." Koria said. Spyro raised an eyebrow but he agreed and began on his way. I looked at Koria, confused as to what she wanted to talk to me alone about. "You know, when I met you, I thought you were just another wimpy dragon who wasn't worth the scales on his hide. But, over the time I'd been chained to you, I learned there was more to you than that, you saved my life, and now... we're about to go save every dragon in the realms. You've shown me you're so much braver than most dragons I've met." Koria began.

I tilted my head, confused as hell as to what she was getting at or why she felt this was the best time for this. "And... I wanted to do something before we confront The Sorceress, because this might be the last chance I get to do... this." Koria said, before I could even process this information she suddenly locked lips with me. I was completely caught off guard, wasn't it like a few hours ago that she wanted me dead?! Now she was making out with me? Girls make no sense...

But odder still, I didn't pull away, once the shock went away I felt... good, like I had found something I had been missing my whole life. This was my first kiss, and it being from a dragon was bizarre but hey, I was a dragon too now so that helped make it less weird. Koria pulled away finally. "I never realized until now how cute you are when you're confused." She said with a giggle.

"I... I thought you hated me?" I asked, talk about a complete 180! When we entered the Catacombs we hated each other to the core, now we were locking lips! Aggh! My brain hurts... "That was before I actually got to know you." Koria pointed out. "Now come on, we can't let Spyro get **too** far ahead of us now can we?" Koria said playfully before we both left to follow Spyro to The Sorceress. I miss the days when my life made sense...

Those were good times...

* * *

**A/N- Well, that escalated quickly. At least Dwayne and Koria don't hate each other anymore (understatement of the century).**

**In case you haven't pieced it together by now I'm trying to wrap this story up. There's a reason why my stories are short, it's because it doesn't take long for me to start running out of ideas/lose interest in a story if I go on with it too long. (This was sadly the fate of my Digimon stories on DeviantArt. )**

**I have something big planned for the final showdown with The Sorceress, so there's something to look forward too at least. (it's gonna be a doosy) See ya then!**


	23. The Fight for Warfang

**Chapter 23: The Fight for Warfang**

* * *

The situation in Warfang was deteriorating fast, all these husks and mages were overwhelming Warfangs armies, I myself was trying to help quell their numbers but even I, the former Terror of the Skies, was having a hard time taking down such an overwhelming army of magic users, where the hell did The Sorceress get all of these guys anyway? It didn't matter right now though, because I kinda had a city to prevent from being turned into a pile of rubble. Of all times for Spyro to vanish it had to be now right? I swear the next time I see him I'm going to squeeze his little purple neck until it pops!

I suddenly noticed another dragon coming up to Warfang's skies, at first I thought it was a husk. But when it came closer I realized it was Blaze, he rushed over to me the second he saw me. "I had a feeling things would have gotten bad here, but I never imagined it would be this bad." Blaze commented looking around at the warzone the dragon city had become.

"Where have you been?! Where's Spyro?!" I ask him, I couldn't see any sign of Spyro anywhere, I knew Blaze knew where he was, it was written on his face as he hesitated to answer me. "He went to confront The Sorceress with Dwayne and Koria." Blaze finally replied.

He what?! Dammit Spyro! He always had to play the hero didn't he? Hell I bet Dwayne and Koria had to fight with him just to be able to tag along. "What?! Why would he do that?! I... I have to go help them!" I said going off to find Spyro but Blaze stopped me. "Get out of my way Blaze!" I said trying to get around him but he wouldn't have it.

Blaze just gave me a stern look. "Cynder I understand why you feel this way, you don't think I want to accompany them as well? But we're needed **here**! We have to make sure they have a city to return to when they defeat The Sorceress." He said to me. I wanted to argue with him, it didn't sit well with me not being there to help Spyro fight The Sorceress. But Blaze was right, the city was in chaos, and Warfang needed me more than Spyro did right now. "Fine, you win." I said in defeat.

Blaze looked around again. "Where's Lisa?" He asked, crap! I knew I forgot something! I hadn't seen her since the battle began. I guess I trusted she could fight on her own enough to let myself lose track of her. "I don't know, I haven't seen her since she charged into the fight." I said.

I shouldn't have said that, Blaze gave me a look of pure hatred upon learning that I let his daughter dive into an army of mages. "And you let that happen?! If she is dead, so help me I will make sure you join her myself!" Blaze snapped at me. Well what was I supposed to do? Tell her no? "She can fight Blaze! I'm sure she's fine!" I said to him but that only made him more angry. It really didn't take much to set him off did it? "She's only 12! She's far too young to be diving into war like that!" Blaze snapped back.

"Dad!"

We both turned to see Lisa run up to us, perfectly fine save for a few cuts and burns here and there. "Lisa! Are you alright?! What were you thinking going into battle like that?!" Blaze said checking her for injuries. "I couldn't just sit there and do nothing dad. I can fight, it would be wrong for me not to help." Lisa said.

Blaze just shook his head. "Lisa I appreciate that you wish to help, and I'm proud of your bravery. But this isn't just a fight, it's an all out war." Blaze said to his daughter. Lisa shook her head. "But I'm doing fine! I've already taken out a few of them all by myself! I can do this dad!" Lisa argued, this news shocking both Blaze and myself. Lisa always came off as the gentle flower that couldn't hurt a fly, even after I trained her I never thought she'd be able to take on several mages on her own. Lisa then looked around. "Dad where's Dwayne? I thought you left to go get him?" Lisa asked.

Me and Blaze both looked at each other then back to her. "He's with Spyro, they're going to confront The Sorceress." I explained to her. Lisa looked off into the distance, possibly considering going after them. "Don't worry Lisa, Spyro won't let anything happen to your brother. But right now, we have to take care of the Sorceress' forces so they have a Warfang to come back to." I reassured her. Lisa nodded, clearly still worried about her older brother but understanding how important it was for us to stop the armies here.

Suddenly a loud boom was heard. Me, Lisa, and Blaze all looked to see a swarm of husks was descending onto Warfang, one having managed to damage a building with a fireball. "Ancestors help us all..." Blaze said in terrified awe. There had to be at least eighty of them! And they were all headed our way.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

Man was it weird having Koria be into me, I still kept expecting her to yell "syke" and punch me in the face or something, but nope, she was dead serious. Odder still was that I was starting to share her feelings, it was just last night that I wanted nothing to do with this dragoness. But now, now I didn't want to be apart from her. Love is weird...

Spyro seemed completely oblivious to our new out of nowhere romance, or maybe he was just focused on The Sorceress, she **was** the major problem here after all. He just kept walking, not saying a single word as we moved through the forest and right for The Sorceress' evil doom fortress. This would make it the third time we've broken into The Sorceress' castle since I returned to the Dragon Realms. Hopefully we wouldn't have to end up going for a fourth.

I felt this weird mix of dread and excitement in my chest, I was excited to be finally putting an end to this Sorceress nonsense once and for all, but on the other hand I was terrified that not all of us would make it out of this place alive. It was a nagging doubt I couldn't get rid of, that even if we won, that me, Spyro, or even Koria might not live to see the next sunrise. It was a sobering thought. "Dwayne, are you alright?" Koria asked me ripping me from my thoughts.

I must not have been hiding my worry very well, as Koria seemed legitimately concerned about me. "I'm just... I'm scared, scared that... when we go in that castle, not all of us are going to make it out..." I said, I knew how much of a pessimist this had to have made me sound like, but The Sorceress had to have a healthy amount of power behind her to keep all these mages under her foot. I didn't know what I liked less, the idea of dying horribly, or losing one of my friends.

Spyro suddenly stopped and turned to me. "No ones dying in there Dwayne! No one but The Sorceress." Spyro said quite bitterly, as if I had somehow offended him with what I said. I don't know why, it was a legitimate concern to have. Spyro then went right back to walking to the castle.

Koria then turned to me. "Well... that was needlessly harsh." She whispered to me, oh this was rich coming from the dragoness who swore blood vengeance on me for beating her in a stupid duel. But she had a point, Spyro seemed pretty... angry recently. Ever since Dad left for Warfang he hadn't said a word until he snapped at me. This wasn't like him, he was usually quite friendly and gentle, but right now he was in full on "kill the evil thing" mode. I wonder if this was how he was during the march to kick Malefor's ass?

I should check on him, I was beginning to get legitimately worried. "Spyro, you okay dude? You're acting pretty cold." I asked, at first Spyro just kept going, as if he didn't hear me or something, "I'm fine." He suddenly said coldly. Yeah that wasn't very convincing Spyro.

Spyro then suddenly stopped before turning to me and Koria. "Dwayne, Koria... go home." He suddenly said. Me and Koria froze, he was just so... direct about it. "Dude, we've been over this, we're coming with yo-" I began but Spyro suddenly snarled at me. "I mean it Dwayne! Go back to Warfang! NOW!" Spyro snapped at me. It was clear how much he meant it too, I'd never seen him so riled up before.

But I wasn't turning back now, Koria felt the same way given her expression. "What the hell Spyro?! I thought we agreed we were doing this together?" Koria asked, taking the words right out of my mouth. What the hell has gotten into him? This was far worse than earlier, I could see it in his eyes, he was **not** going to let us come with him. "Spyro we're coming with you and there's nothing you can do to change our minds!" Koria asserted.

However I began to notice something, Spyro's scales were getting darker, and his eyes were softly glowing. I think I knew what this was, and it wasn't good. "You CAN'T come with me! I won't let you get killed! I can't let another good dragon die because of me! I won't! Go home!" Spyro snapped, his voice slightly distorted. Yup... he had shifted into Dark Spyro. Me and Koria were absolutely terrified. Me because I knew what happened when Spyro went into dark mode, and Koria because she had no clue what the hell was going on with Spyro. "LEAVE!" He screamed at us before shooting a convexity shot right at the ground in front of us.

I had to calm him down! Or else The Sorceress was going to be the least of our worries! "Spyro calm down! You know you can't take her by yourself! We know the risks, but we're willing to face them anyway because you're our friend, and friends don't turn their backs on each other." I said, but Spyro was still in full on dark mode. "You just don't get it! You come with me and you'll get killed! Don't make me fight you over this Dwayne, because I'll knock you two out if I have to!" Spyro warned me.

But I wasn't going to back down. I couldn't, Spyro would be screwed if he went alone, The Sorceress was expecting him, which meant she was prepared for him. I had to calm him down while convincing him to let us help. "And what will you dying instead get us? Because that's what's going to happen if you go in there alone! Spyro we want to help you. Am I scared of dying, you're damn right I'm scared. But I'm willing to face that fear with you, because that's what friends do, they stick together, even when they really shouldn't." I said. Spyro just stood there, glaring at me.

Koria walked up next to me. "Even the purple dragon of legend needs a little help from his friends Spyro. We're going to have your back Spyro, no matter what." Koria said. Spyro's scales began to return to normal as he hung his head low. "I... I'm sorry... It's just... I can't go through it again... I just can't." Spyro said. Me and Koria both tilted our heads, I tried to remember everything I could from that Let's Play of Dawn of The Dragon I had watched for what it could be Spyro was referring to, but it had been so long I barely remembered that game.

Spyro walked off to the side, staring sadly into the forest. "I didn't know what to think when I first found out I wasn't really a dragonfly, I was lost... scared... alone... Even when Sparx came along with me, I still felt alone. This big... purple... thing that had no real home, no real family..." Spyro began. "But then I met The fire guardian Ignitus, another dragon like me, he welcomed me back with open arms, and guided me through everything with his wisdom. Overtime he became a father figure to me, someone I looked up to." Spyro continued. What this had to do with the current situation I had no clue, but I was willing to see where he was going with this. "But then... when we went to confront Malefor we had to get through the Belt of Fire, Ignitus tried to use his fire abilities to protect us from the fire... but he started to get weaker..." Spyro said, chocking a bit on his words... "It all happened so fast... the next thing I knew, me and Cynder were sent sailing out of the Belt of Fire, he sacrificed himself to save us... I spent so many nights after that wishing I could have done something, anything to save him." Spyro finished.

He then turned to the two of us, his eyes soaked with tears. "That's why I don't want you two to come with me. I can't cost another good dragon their life... I just can't." Spyro said. I suddenly remembered the cutscene where that had happened. How upset Spyro was afterward. Suddenly his outright refusal to let us come with him made more sense. I walked up to Spyro. "It wasn't your fault Spyro, I know you too well to think you'd abandon anyone like that." I said.

Koria walked up beside me. "Ignitus knew what he was doing when he saved you and Cynder, and so do me and Dwayne. We're in this together, no matter what." Koria said, Spyro perked up. "Thanks guys..." Spyro said with a smile.

I nodded. "Come on, we have a Sorceress to flatten." I said, Spyro giving me a nod before we all continued on our journey to confront The Sorceress.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

The husks were beginning to be a problem, just taking one down alone was a hassle, let alone an army of them! Cynder and Dad wasted no time in going to battle with them. I wanted to follow them in, However suddenly I felt something grab me, it was a husk! I struggled and squirmed to get free but the undead dragon's grip was too strong.

God were these things were creepy, they didn't act like zombies at all, they were more like ghosts. The husk just stared at me with it's blank, soulless eyes. Silently watching as I tried to break free of it's grip. "Let me GO!" I demanded, but the husk had no response. I managed to wrench my way out of the husk's claws and tried to scurry away but the husk bit down on my tail. It's razor sharp teeth piercing my scales effortlessly. I screamed in pain, hoping husks didn't follow the same rule as actual zombies in that one bit turns you into one.

I shot a fire ball right at it's face, trying in desperation to get free. But it just took each shot, uncaring that it's face was on fire. It just stood there, my tail clutched in it's jaws. It then put a paw on my side and began to pull. Oh god! It was trying to rip my tail off! I shot more fireballs frantically but to no avail.

However suddenly I heard the sounds of steel piercing flesh and the husk stopped dead in it's tracks before it's head slowly slipped off of it's neck and onto the ground, I almost hurled at the sight. "Lisa! Are you alright?" I heard someone ask, I looked to see it was Taven. He had Bianca with him, who was trying to pry my tail from the decapitated dragon's mouth. The pain was immense as the teeth were slowly removed from my flesh. Taven looked over to Bianca. "How bad is it?" He asked her.

Bianca looked over my tail for a moment, Taven actively preventing me from looking by holding my head and gently stroking it. "The wounds are pretty deep. But with a little healing spell she should be fine." Bianca said. My tail hurt so much, I whimpered pathetically as Bianca went to work on it. "There there Lisa, it's alright.." Taven cooed, trying to calm me down.

I suddenly felt a small aura of cold air in front of me. "Look out!" I heard shouted, suddenly I heard the sound of ice crackling. I managed to look up to see that Cyril had frozen a lunging husk solid. Judging by it's position, it was aiming right for me and Taven, probably seeing us as open targets. "That was a tad close wasn't it?" Cyril said as he turned to us. He was clearly unsettled by the sight of my tail given his expression. "What on earth happened to her?" He asked.

"It was a husk... it caught me off guard. It... it was trying to rip my tail off!" I said, the very idea of something wanting to rip something from my body was a horrible thing to cope with. But at least said something was dead now. Well... more dead than it was already. "And it would have succeeded if me and Bianca hadn't spotted her fireball blasts from where we were." Taven added.

I then felt a cool sensation wash over my tail, it was soothing almost. The pain began to lessen but it was still there. "Dammit! The wounds are too deep, Taven I need a bandage!" Bianca said, Taven wasted no time in taking a knife and cutting into his red tunic and handing the strand he removed to Bianca. "I've been looking to get a new one anyway." Taven said, trying to lighten the mood. Bianca said nothing and wrapped the cloth around my tail. "Alright, I've done the best I could, but with a little time it should heal." Bianca told me, Taven picked me up, opting to carry me in his arms despite me being perfectly capable of walking on my own.

Suddenly a flaming husk came crashing down in front of us, it's entire body was just one big inferno. Dad came down hard onto the ground, forcing another husk's head into the stone ground of the city, killing it on impact. He then looked to me with a worried expression when he saw the bandage around my tail. "What happened?!" He asked.

Cyril decided to reply. "Apparently she was ambushed by a husk. Nearly tore her tail right off." Cyril explained. Dad then looked to me and Taven. "Taven, take her to the temple. Keep her safe." He ordered him.

"I'm fine dad! I can fight really!" I objected. I wasn't sitting this out while everyone else fought for their lives! It was wrong!

However dad just glared at me before motioning for Taven to take me inside. Taven did so despite my attempts to get free, Bianca following him inside.

Once we were inside Taven and Bianca checked to see if we were alone. "Alright, so what do you want to do?" Taven asked Bianca. Bianca gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?" She asked, crossing her arms.

Taven looked behind him, as if making sure dad wasn't listening. "I'm thinking that The Sorceress is using quite a bit of her forces in this assault." He said, now **I** was confused too, what the heck was he getting at here? "So?" Bianca asked. "So, if all her forces are here, that leaves her castle unprotected. I say we take this opportunity to take out The Sorceress!" Taven said.

Bianca just stared at him with this "not sure if serious" kind of look. "Are you out of your mind?" She asked Taven. "Think about it Bianca! We could end this conflict once and for all! We know where her castle is! And you know the layout better than anyone in Warfang! All we have to do is find a way out of the city." Taven explained.

I looked up at Taven. "But dad said Spyro, Dwayne, and Koria are already going there to confront her." I explained to him. Taven seemed to like this news. "See? Spyro and Dwayne are already making their move, why shouldn't we go and lend them a hand?" Taven said, oh god why did I encourage him? Dad's going to twist his head off like a grape when he finds out Taven smuggled me out of Warfang to fight The Sorceress.

Bianca was skeptical at first, but she finally gave in. "Fine, but if Blaze finds out about this I'm telling him who exactly came up with this plan in the first place." Bianca said. Taven then let me down onto the floor. "Excellent, let's discuss our plan to escape Warfang before we go." Taven said with his usual enthusiasm.

I then noticed an overturned mushroom head slide slightly across the floor. At first I thought I was seeing things, but then it moved again. Curious, I lifted it up to reveal that Sparx was hiding under it. "NO! Don't kill me please! I'm too pretty to die!" Sparx said, shielding himself with his tiny arms until he realized it was just me and he let his guard down. "Phew! It's just you. For a second there I thought you were one of the evil mage people." Sparx said.

Taven then knelt down next to me. "I was wondering where you had disappeared to Sparx." Taven said with a small laugh. Sparx just rolled his eyes.

Bianca then walked up behind us. "Good, he can come with us." Bianca said, Sparx instantly flew up to her face. "Oh no! I'm not going **anywhere** with you, you evil... bunny witch!" Sparx protested. "Oh yes you are, I can't have to blabbering to Blaze about our plans to confront The Sorceress, and besides, I'm sure Spyro's quite lonely without his little pest following him around." Bianca joked. Sparx grumbled and followed along with us, dad is so going to kill me when we get back... if we get back.

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**A/N- Well, next chapter is the final confrontation with The Sorceress, will our heroes be able to put an end to The Sorceress? Well you'll just have to wait and see.**


	24. Confrontation

**Author's Note: ****When am I going to stop making you people wait hilariously long times for new chapters? I'd been a bit busy lately, either not having time to sit down and write or having no will at all to write when I do. **

**Hopefully with this thing almost done it won't be a problem for much longer... knock on wood.**

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**Chapter 24: Confrontation**

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The Sorceress' castle soon came into view, the place where me, Spyro, and Koria would face down the very person who caused everything that had happened to me over my 16 year long existence. I had never really given it that much thought until now, but The Sorceress was basically the catalyst for everything horrible and sh**y in my life. She had my mother killed, she was the reason dad sent me away, she was the reason I spent my human years in that goddamn orphanage, she was the reason my people were a mere shadow of their former selves. Funny that I hated this bitch more than anything else in the universe but I had no clue what she even looked like.

Well I was about to find out, the place was surprisingly unguarded, you'd think there'd at least be two mages blocking the front door. I guess she wasted all her troops on me and possibly Warfang. Spyro opened the door with a loud creak. "Yeah Spyro make more noise! We're only breaking into The Sorceress' castle here!" Koria hissed at him.

Spyro rolled his eyes and entered the castle, me and Koira followed suit, despite my numerous trips here I had never entered through the front before, usually I spent most of my time here in the dungeons. I had never seen the foyer before, and I kinda wish I hadn't. The place was dark and danky, with a lot of reds and purples in it's color scheme. And to add to the creepy, the walls were littered with paintings depicting gruesome and disturbing images. Most of them involving dragons on the receiving end of these horrific acts. "Man, The Sorceress has really bad taste in artwork." I commented, trying to keep the mood light. "I'm trying not to look." Koria said, keeping her head down.

The castle was completely empty, no a soul in sight. Not even so much as a husk was anywhere to be found. "Where is everyone?" Spyro asked. Something was wrong here, I thought for sure we'd have to fight our way to The Sorceress. Did she seriously blow all her troops on her little ambush in The Catacombs? Wow...

However suddenly we heard a pair of doors slam closed, and onto the upper balcony I saw a rather portly creature step forward, she was in elaborate robes with a fancy white collar around her neck, she was a blue gray color, and kinda looked like a cross between a hippo and a dinosaur. In her hands she held a staff with a gem on the end. "So... at long last we meet face to face purple dragon." She said. No way... this wasn't seriously... no way. "You fools should have known better than to barge into **my** castle and try to challenge me!" She said, yup, this tub of lard was The Sorceress, I thought she would look something like Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. This imposing dark mistress of evil, not this short, tubby sack of fail I saw before me.

"Y...you're The Sorceress? I thought you'd be... more... imposing and less, goofy looking." I said awkwardly. The Sorceress was quite offended by my statement. "How **dare** you insult me you worthless reptile! You will show me respect!" The Sorceress yelled down at me. I'm sorry! I can't bring myself to tremble in fear of someone I could have beaten in my human form by putting my hand on her head!

Spyro decided to start talking before I said something else stupid to piss her off. "It's over Sorceress! You're done tormenting us! I'm putting an end to your madness once and for all!" Spyro said, The Sorceress was unimpressed however. "Oh you're quite wrong about that dragon, when I take your wings I will be immortal! I will be a GOD!" The Sorceress said.

The Sorceress then thrust her staff onto the stone floor, a gate below the balcony suddenly opened, and out of it walked a husk, an advanced one like the one I had encountered by the river, it was an eastern dragon, possibly female given her slender build. She was a pale pink color with a grayish mane and underbelly. Her eyes were pure white with black rings around them. There was this unshakable feeling of familiarity with this husk, like I somehow knew her, but I just shook it off as my mind messing with me again. And just like the one at the river, it too mouthed something unintelligible at us. "Have fun children, I'll be back for your wings once my... pet has dealt with you." The Sorceress scoffed before turning to leave. And now we were alone, with an advanced husk, and without Bianca to remove it's dark magic this time... well it was a fun life while it lasted wasn't it?

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_**Meanwhile...**_

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Our plan to sneak out of Warfang was simple enough, Bianca would cast an invisibility spell on us, and we'd try to make our way out the front gate hopefully without getting killed. Well, I can think of worse plans to get to The Sorceress' castle. "You sure they won't be able to see us?" Sparx asked.

Bianca said nothing and just held her hand into the air, causing some kind of magic barrier to form over us. "As long as you stay under the barrier you will." Bianca said. "And if I can keep it formed long enough for us to get out." She added solemnly.

We slowly began our walk out of Warfang, none of us making a peep as we did so, as Bianca had explained that it wouldn't work if we weren't quiet. It was tense to say the least, we had walked right by several husks, some a little too close for comfort. But the spell was doing it's job as no one seemed to notice us. We just had to be mindful not to bump into anyone along the way.

I looked around at all the war and chaos that surrounded us, dragons, moles, and cheetahs all engaging the enemy forces, both sides sustaining casualties left and right. You know when they say "War is hell"? Well let's just say I understand what they mean now more than ever. We eventually found our way out of the city, the forest was surprisingly calm compared to the war torn hell hole that Warfang had become. Bianca removed the spell from over us. "Well, that went well." Bianca said.

We wasted no time in going towards The Sorceress' castle, me hoping Dwayne would be all right when we got there and not dead at the hands of that evil sorceress. Taven noticed my worry. "Worried about your brother are we?" Taven asked me. I looked towards the ground below me. "How could I not be?" I said. Taven gave me a reassuring smile. "Dwayne's a resourceful little dragon, he'll be fine I'm certain." Taven said. I wanted to believe him, but part of me couldn't help but feel he was being overly optimistic. Either way we'd find out once we got there.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

* * *

This husk was a lot stronger than I thought, she was manhandling us, tossing us around like ragdolls. Something about this dragon seemed strangely familiar though, which bothered me to no end. I didn't remember a thing about my life before dad sent me to the Human Realms so there was no logical way I **could** recognize this dragon. But I couldn't focus on this right now! I had to focus on staying alive. The husk kept slashing at us with her claws, getting me in the face a few times. Spyro was doing a bit better, being **far** more experienced than I was in the ways of combat. Hitting the husk with several fireballs and other elemental blasts.

But the husk just took it in stride. Catching the purple dragon off guard with a huge fireball knocking him into the far wall. Oh man, how lame would it be if we got killed by a **husk** instead of The Sorceress we were supposed to be fighting? On second thought, shouldn't tempt fate, it needs little provocation to screw us over.

Koria froze the husk's feet to the floor, before I threw my strongest fire ball at it, but all this did was make it stagger backwards before it was right back on it's assault. God dammit this thing could take a lot of punishment! The husk plowed through us like a bull sending me and Koria tumbling into a vase. God I didn't want to get up after that, my body practically begged for me to stay on the floor. Koria suddenly loomed over me. "Get up Dwayne! Preferably **before** the husk makes you a permanent part of the castle floor!" Koria said.

I groaned as I picked myself off the floor. "This thing is tough! How the hell are we going to beat it?" I asked her. Koria didn't have an answer as she just looked back at the husk with an uneasy expression on her face.

Well at least Spyro was in top form as he engaged the husk, not letting up for even a second! Damn could that guy go! He was probably the only reason me and Koria were even still **in** this fight. But it was clear that even the purple dragon of legend wasn't enough to take out an advanced husk like this one as the husk never lost a step.

There had to be some way we could beat this thing... the last advanced husk we encountered we needed to have Bianca remove the black magic from it to kill it. And we didn't exactly have her on hand to do that this time. Our only option for now was to keep hammering it until it hopefully stopped moving. God this was like fighting a brick wall! No matter how hard we hit it it just kept going and going. It wasn't even getting **tired**!

The husk suddenly rushed me and grabbed me by the throat. Pinning me to the wall and bringing it's face close to mine. The undead dragon just locked eyes with me, it's other paw held high for the deathblow but for some reason, it was... hesitating... like it didn't **want** to kill me. Koria took advantage of it's bizarre hesitation and rammed in the sides knocking it to the floor. "You okay?" She asked me.

I slowly got up and looked at her. "It... it hesitated... why did it hesitate?" I asked, completely floored that this undead dragon of evil just held back on me for some unknown reason. Koria just gave me an indignant look. "What does it matter?! Just be thankful you're not dead!" Koria said, she had a point. I really shouldn't be complaining that that husk didn't just make me a few inches shorter back there.

However the husk was right back up, and it just stood there, heat generating around it for some reason. Spyro's eyes went wide when he realized what was happening. "It's going to do a fire fury! Get to cover!" Spyro yelled before ducking behind a pillar. Me and Koria scrambled for a suitable hiding spot but couldn't find anything within range. I looked back in horror as the husk looked ready to unleash it's fury.

However suddenly a magic blast hit it square in the center mass knocking it into a wall. I turned to see Bianca had somehow found us, and she wasn't alone as Taven, Darius, Sparx, and Lisa were with her. I'd be mad at them for bringing Lisa here later, right now I was just glad we had backup. Lisa rushed over to me. "Dwayne thank god you're okay! I was worried." She said as she nuzzled me.

However this touching reunion was cut short by the husk approaching us. No way! I wasn't going to let this monster hurt my little sister! I decided to unleash my own fury, "Lisa, get clear... NOW!" I ordered her, Lisa paused for a second, but when she realized why she complied. Koria stood beside me, charging her own fury, our furies combined might just be enough to take this thing down.

We then unleashed our furies together, a powerful wave of ice and fire blew the husk away, sending it sailing through the staircase like it was made out of gram crackers. It fell limply to the ground, after a while of it not getting up it seemed as though we had done it. We beat the husk! I then turned to Bianca. "What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

Taven stepped forward. "We figured you could use our help." He said confidently. I just rolled my eyes. "And it looks as though we showed up just in the nick of time." Taven added.

Bianca looked around. "Where's the Sorceress?" She asked. Spyro walked in. "She ducked into that room upstairs before the fight started." He answered.

Lisa meanwhile was looking over the dead husk, "Dwayne... is it really dead?" Lisa asked me, poking it with her claw. I walked over to her, if anything to make sure it didn't suddenly spring up and attack her. All the while I couldn't figure out why I felt like I knew this dragon from somewhere. Koria followed behind me, kinda having to considering we were chained together by magic.

Suddenly the husk's eyes slowly opened. Me and Koria instinctively got between it and Lisa. The husk however didn't get up to attack or even try to use it's fire breath to kill us. It just stared at us with it's blank eyes. Suddenly it began to speak. "S...son?..." It said in a low, raspy tone.

Son? Why did it say that? Was this an advanced husk thing? Did they just say nonsense at you? The husk paused for a moment before continuing. "Y...you've grown... so much since I... last saw you my child." She said. I just stood frozen, not sure what to make of this.

Lisa however, came to the same conclusion I did. "M... mom?" She asked in a mix of horror and sorrow. The husk slowly nodded, a weak smile on it's face. "Yes my child... I never... thought I'd get the chance to see you." Mom said.

However he happiness quickly changed to sorrow as she turned to me. "Although I haven't... been myself for some time... under the thumb of that witch... for 12 years as a living corpse... son please... release me from this rotting prison of flesh I dwell in... before her dark magic controls me once more.." She said.

No! I won't kill her! This was my **mother**! How could she ask me to do that? "But... maybe we can help you! Find some way to get her magic out without killing you!" I said, clinging on to the tiny shred of hope I now had of being able to have a mother. But mom shook her head. "No son, it's not possible, I can already feel her magic overriding my spirit. Your... mage friend must remove the magic which gives my decaying body life." She said motioning towards Bianca.

"NO! Mom please! There has to be a way! A way for us to be together again! Please!" I said hysterically, tears pouring from my face. I wanted my mother, I wanted her more than anything right now, a chance to have a full family. The way it was supposed to be. Mom wrapped her wing around me. "I want that too son, but I know it's not possible. I love you and your sister more than anything, but my time is over, please son, let me rest and join our ancestors in the afterlife." She said. I couldn't accept it! There had to be something! Anything I could do to save her! There had to be!

Bianca put a hand on my shoulder. "She's right Dwayne, there's nothing we can do for her now. If we leave that spell in her, she'll just go right back to attacking us... I have to remove the black magic from her." Bianca said with a hint of sorrow in her voice. I didn't want to... but the more I thought about it, the more I knew they were right, I could never have my mother back, it just wasn't possible. And with a sob I nodded. "Okay.." I said, my voice cracking from the sorrow I felt right now.

Mom smiled weakly. "Thank you Dwayne... at least... I got to see my children before... I left this world. I will always watch over you two... and tell your father... that I never blamed him for what happened to me..." She said before Bianca began to work on removing the spell. Lisa began to sob uncontrollably into our mother's side, her just as unwilling to let her go as I was. She wrapped her arm around Lisa. "There there, I will always be with you." She said trying to comfort her daughter. "I love you both." She said before Bianca removed the spell, ending her life right then and there, a look of peace on our mother's lifeless face.

I hung my head low, I wanted to meet my mother... but not like this... I wanted us all to be a family again. But fate was a cruel mistress, taking her away as quickly as I got her back. Koria nuzzled me trying to comfort me. "It's okay Dwayne, she's at peace now." She said, I couldn't even respond with the hurricane of emotions running through my head right now.

Spyro approached me. "Dwayne... after what just happened, I understand if you don't want to go through with this..." Spyro told me. However I shook my head. "No!... That bitch already took my mother... I'm not letting her take my best friend too. This ends... now!" I said, after seeing what The Sorceress had done to my mother, making her one of her husk servants for god knows how long, I wanted to tare her to shreds now more than ever!

Lisa stepped forward. "I'm going too!" She said, I went to try to talk her out of it but she stopped me. "No Dwayne! She was my mother too, I want to make sure she can truly rest in peace and fight along side you. I can do it Dwayne! I know I can!" Lisa said. I wanted to argue with her, tell her no so she would be safe with the others, but the look on her face told me just how much she wanted this. So I nodded.

I then looked towards the door The Sorceress had gone through, this had gone on long enough, it's time to put an end to The Sorceress and her insane schemes, so that the dragons could finally live in peace once and for all...

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**A/N- Yes folks, it seems that the next chapter may indeed be the last, will the Reed siblings, Koria, and Spyro be able to defeat The Sorceress and finally bring peace to dragonkind? Find out next time I'm able to fight off my procrastination long enough to actually post! **


	25. The Sorceress

**Chapter 25: The Sorceress**

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I knew it was inevitable from the moment I learned about her, the moment I would have to come face to face with the woman who forced my father to send me to another world, the woman who took my mother from me, and turned her into her undead slave. The Sorceress... There was no one in the realms I hated more than her, for all she did to me, my family, my people, she would pay for it all!

However we had a problem, when me and Koria sent mom through the air with our furies, we kinda destroyed the staircase leading to The Sorceress' throne room. But of course this did little to deter Spyro as he just simply flew up to the balcony, Sparx following closely behind like he usually did. Me and Koria had to time it just right so we wouldn't strangle one another with our chain as we attempted to fly but we managed it. Lisa followed suit, and soon we were all on top, but with another problem, Taven, Darius, and Bianca couldn't fly.

Spyro loomed over the balcony. "Sorry guys, it looks like you're going to have to sit this one out." Spyro said. Taven seemed disappointed, and was about to object but Darius stopped him. "Then we wish you four good luck." Darius said. And with that, we all followed Spyro into the throne room.

It was of course, lavishly decorated with fancy rugs and whatnot. But I wasn't here to play interior decorator, I was here to put an end to The Sorceress. Who was in her throne, a very annoyed look upon her face. "I should have known that dumb husk wouldn't be competent enough to deal with you vermin proper." She growled.

I snarled at her. "That was my MOTHER you bitch!" I yelled. I had no love for this witch, and I wasn't going to hide it either.

The Sorceress scoffed at the information. "To you perhaps, to me she was just another worthless dragon. Your kind isn't worth the dirt it walks upon don't think you can make me feel guilty for using your mother as a tool to my whims." The Sorceress scoffed. I wanted to tare her goddamn head off right now! Her complete lack of remorse towards me and my kind, who by the by had done **nothing** to her before this "chop our wings off" nonsense. "You dragons disgust me, acting like you're morally superior when one of your own almost ended our world! They worship you worthless reptiles like idols while **I'm **labeled a villain for merely trying to preserve my own life!" She added.

Sparx flew up in her face "Yeah, because you're a crazy fat lady who likes hacking baby dragon wings off!" Sparx chastised her, but flew out of range when The Sorceress tried to swat the dragonfly away. "You may think it deranged, but I don't, it's what you dragons deserve for what happened to this land during the war **you **started! You dragons should have been wiped clean from this world ages ago!" The Sorceress screamed before she hopped off her throne. "A problem I will soon rectify..." She added before thrusting her staff down, soon the room was surrounded by fire on all sides, ensuring we couldn't escape.

The Sorceress then began to fire magic at us, me and Koria barely managed to get out of the way in time, as did Spyro and Lisa. The Sorceress just kept going on the offensive, firing powerful blast after powerful blast at us. I tried to get a few fire balls in but she just blocked each one with a magical shield. She then suddenly gained a purple glow before she vanished and suddenly collided with me like a wrecking ball.

The Force sending me into a wall. "I've had decades to perfect my magic dragon. There's no chance of your beating me." She taunted me before getting hit by a stray shot from Spyro. "Too bad he's not the only one you're fighting then isn't it?" He taunted her.

The Sorceress was quick to her feet. "Oh trust me purple dragon, none of you stand a chance." She said before hitting Spyro flush with a magic shockwave. "But I must remember to be careful to leave your wings intact, I need that magic to become immortal." She added.

"You can't handle the power of Spyro's wings Sorceress! No one but him was meant to have that kind of power!" I pointed out, I don't know why, wasn't like she was gonna listen or anything.

The Sorceress laughed. "You think I can't handle power child? Trust me, I'm more than capable of controlling the purple dragon's magic." She gloated. Yeah, called that one. However Lisa took advantage of the momentary distraction and latched onto The Sorceress' back and began to bite into her shoulder. The Sorceress cried out as Lisa's teeth pierced her skin. She managed to rip her off and violently tossed her to the ground so hard she bounced off the stone floor like a basketball.

But before I could rush to my younger sister's aid The Sorceress got me with a magic missile that knocked me to the ground. "For twelve years I've hunted you and your sister down, I even tried to torture that fool father of yours into giving me your location, and now that I have you, I'm going to make you hurt for every year you made me waste trying to find you!" She snarled before hitting me with what could only be described as Sith Lightening, electrocuting me where I laid. I screamed as the electricity surged through my body. Koria tried to help but only got her own lightening bolt to the face for her troubles.

The Sorceress' face had a blank expression on it, not even a hint of manic glee as she caused me severe agony, just a cold, calculating look, as if she was just waiting for me to finally die already. But The Sorceress didn't see Spyro come up from behind with a rock wave that sent her flying humorously through the air like something out of Gmod.

Koria seemed to have shaken the thunderbolt off as she and Spyro both rushed over to me. "Are you okay?" Spyro asked me. I nodded as I got up, my body was in pain from head to toe but I could still fight at least. Lisa seemed to have shaken off her own bump as she was right back up and attacking The Sorceress who had also gotten up.

Man, she never missed a beat did she? But she had to go down, that much was made abundantly clear since day one back in the Dragon Realms. So I went right back on the attack, a wave of fire erupting from my mouth and right in her direction, I managed to catch her off guard and severely burned her arm. She actually howled in pain as the flames danced upon her arm.

She managed to get the fire out and gave me a piercing death glare. "You little rat! You'll die for that!" She screamed as if she didn't expect me to fight back or something. I found myself hit with another magic shot, crashing into a pedestal of some kind. Spyro took initiative and hit her with a lightening bolt to the face. "It's over Sorceress! You're gonna pay for every innocent life you've taken!" Spyro snarled before lunging at her like a panther!

However The Sorceress just slapped him away like a fly. "HA! I hardly call you dragons "innocent"! I did this world a favor by taking their worthless lives!" The Sorceress snapped back, she was becoming more and more hateable by the minute...

The Sorceress just kept laying into us with more and more magic, not even once looking the least bit tired the whole time. You wouldn't think it given how... chunky, she was but anything's possible I guess. But I wasn't going to be outlasted by her and her flab! I was gonna get justice for my people, for my mother.

I got her by the arm, clamping my jaws down onto it like an alligator, it was her bad arm too, the one I burnt, "GAH! Get off me you repulsive reptile!" She barked at me before wrenching her arm out of my mouth. "You know Dwayne, I was just going to cut your wings off and be done with it, give you the chance, if you're lucky, to live as a wingless dragon, but now that you've angered me, I'm going to make sure you and your sister die slowly and painfully!" The Sorceress said.

I charged her with my horns. Knocking her back from the impact. "I hate you... I hate you more than anything I've ever hated before! Everything horrible in me and my sister's life involved you in some shape or form... and I'm going to make you pay for everything you did to my kind!" I snarled at her before she just simply backhanded me making me stagger backwards.

She gave me a piercing glare. "You're opinions on me matter little. And I assure you dragon, your people will never see "justice" for they deserve **none**!" The Sorceress said before knocking me back with another spell, a huge one, a giant force of dark magic that thrashed me into the far wall. "Die you worthless runt! DIE!" The Sorceress shouted.

The spell ceased and I hit the floor again, my body was beginning to give out, all this damage The Sorceress had inflicted on me was starting to stack. I don't know how much longer I'm going to last...

It was getting harder and harder to get up, I just wanted to lie there and pass out. I could feel Koria shaking me trying to get me to wake up. "Dwayne! Dwayne come on get up!" She cried, I could hear the sounds of Spyro and Lisa fighting The Sorceress echo through the throne room. "Don't die on me... please Dwayne... don't die..." I heard Koria plead.

I felt something cold and wet hit my face, I weakly opened my eyes to see Koria standing over me with tears in her eyes. I fought to stay conscious, every part of my body wanted to just give out, but I couldn't. I had to keep fighting... I wasn't going to die here...

* * *

Dwayne was barely hanging onto life right now. His body was burnt bad, and blood was trickling from his mouth as he just stared at me weakly with those golden eyes of his. The Sorceress and her followers had already taken mom and dad from me... I don't want her to take my first love from me too...

It was so weird how only yesterday I had hated this dragon to the core. But now... I can't imagine my life without him. I turned to The Sorceress, who was fighting Spyro and Dwayne's sister, and repelling the two with her powerful magic. Dwayne and Spyro had managed to do some real damage on her, her arm was burnt from Dwayne's fire, and Spyro was currently biting her good arm, drawing blood.

The fighter in me wanted to join them in their fight, but I knew that I had to stay with Dwayne so The Sorceress didn't try to capitalize on his compromised condition. I knew The Sorceress had to be the kind of person who would attack a helpless opponent.

The Sorceress managed to get Spyro off her arm and toss him into a pillar. "Why won't you cretins just DIE?!" The Sorceress snarled, clearly beginning to become frustrated with how long we've all lasted and how much damage we were doing. "I am the most powerful mage in all of the Realms! You all should be **dead!" **She screamed.

She began to just batter us with magic blasts, her inability to kill us was beginning to unravel her to the point of madness, she clearly had expected this fight to be a lot shorter than it actually was. I tried my best to keep between The Sorceress and Dwayne but being smacked around obviously made that a bit difficult. "DIE YOU WORMS! DIE!" The Sorceress screamed as she kept raining blows on us. I could see in her eyes how much she wanted us dead. Like we had somehow insulted her for surviving this long.

She just kept wailing on us with spell after spell. Me, Spyro, and Dwayne's sister were all getting pounded. But The Sorceress just kept going, desperate for us to just die already. She wasn't even caring to keep Spyro's wings intact anymore, I think she was just beyond caring anymore, as if showing us up was worth more to her than the entire reason she was doing any of this in the first place. "You dragons shouldn't be alive! I am the SORCERESS! The most powerful magic force in all of the realms! Your continuing existence is an insult to my power!" The Sorceress said, lifting Spyro up with her magic and bringing him face to face with her.

Spyro glared at her weakly, barely able to lift his head after the pounding he had taken throughout this fight. "I'm going to enjoy this far more than I should..." The Sorceress growled, she then spread her arms out as if she was separating something. My eyes shot wide open when Spyro began to scream, his wings were straightened out, I realized what was happening, she was trying to rip his wings off with her magic. The purple dragon was helpless to stop it as he uselessly wiggled around trying to break free. "Don't fight it purple dragon! You can't hope to break free of my magic!" The Sorceress scoffed.

I tried to get up to help him, but my legs refused to move. Sparx uselessly tugged on the Sorceress robe in a desperate attempt to save Spyro, Dwayne's sister seemed to be struggling to get up as well. It all seemed to be hopeless...

I then heard a small groan, I turned to see Dwayne getting up. It seemed to be quite difficult for him as I saw his legs shaking as he did this. "Dwayne?" I said.

* * *

I had finally managed to get up, only to see Spyro caught in The Sorceress' magic, she was trying to rip his wings right off his back, god his screams, they were horrible, wailing cries of pure agony. Couple that with the fact they were coming from my best friend and it was an unbearable sound. I had to stop this! I turned to Koria. "Can you move?" I asked her.

Koria looked pretty beaten, she was covered in burns and bruises, but she managed to pick herself up. "Y...yeah I'll be fine, but we have to help Spyro! His wings are going to give any minute!" Koria said.

I then saw Lisa walk over to us, or rather, limping. "I... I'm okay." She said, noticing my worried expression.

I turned back to Spyro and The Sorceress, I had an idea... with her trying to de-wing Spyro, she was vulnerable, too focused on the purple dragon to protect herself. I then shot a stream of fire at The Sorceress, getting her in the back, I just kept firing, not stopping even one second. Soon Lisa did the same, getting her from another angle, then Koria fired her ice breath from yet another angle, soon enough The Sorceress was being blasted on all fronts, in the wave of fire and ice she was taking she couldn't maintain her hold on Spyro and he fell to the floor with a thud. His wings thankfully still attached.

Spyro slowly got up, seeing what was happening. He limped over to the wicked mage. "It's time this ended..." He said coldly, before a purple glow surrounded him. He then added his Convexity breath to our stream of fire and ice, resulting in an explosion of energy that knocked us all back.

I groaned as I picked myself off the floor, I stared at the cloud of smoke that enveloped the space The Sorceress once occupied, looking for any sign of her still being alive. Koria walked up next to me. "Is it over? Is she dead?" Koria asked. I don't know, but god I hope so, I don't think I had any mana left in me after that.

However, when the dust cleared, The Sorceress was nowhere to be found, a shredded and burnt robe sitting where she once stood. Yeah I think it's safe to assume she's dead. Or possibly running for her life completely naked. But The Sorceress wasn't one to cut and run, so it was a safe bet she had been completely vaporized by our elemental breaths.

Lisa jumped for joy. "We did it! We won!" She said, excited over our victory. It was finally over, The Sorceress was no more, nothing but a smoldering pile of slag on the castle floor. Good riddance...

I rushed over to Lisa, both of us overjoyed that the evil mage that had tormented our kind for so long was finally gone for good.

"Dwayne..."

I stopped and turned to Koria, and noticed something, we were quite a bit of distance from each other, but the magic leash wasn't there anymore. "What? How did we undo the bounding spell?" I asked.

Spyro thought for a moment. "That explosion must have eradicated it along with The Sorceress..." Spyro theorized. Well at least I didn't have to worry about being strangled by magic leashes anymore... that was a plus. Spyro then approached me. "I thought for sure she was going to rip my wings off back there, thanks for saving me guys." He said to all three of us. I nodded. "No problem man, now lets go home." I said, I've had enough of this damn place for a life time...

* * *

_**Later...**_

* * *

The husks and mages had all been defeated, Warfang saved. But one thing still lingered, my son was still out there, alive or dead I knew not, and when I checked the temple, Lisa was gone as well... no doubt she left to find her brother. I prayed to the ancestors for my children to be safe as everyone around me celebrated our victory.

I looked at the scars this battle had left on the city, when suddenly Terrador walked up next to me. "Are you alright Blaze?" He asked me.

I turned to the Earth Guardian. "My son is still out there... I just... I just can't lose another loved one to The Sorceress..." I said. Terrador gave me a sympathetic look. "He's with The Purple dragon Blaze, I know Spyro too well to think he'd ever let anything happen to your son." Terrador said to me.

"Look! Over at the gates!"

I turned as soon as I heard the voice to see a sight I wanted to see more than anything... my son and daughter, walking into Warfang with their friends... alive. They were beaten, bruised, and injured, but alive. I couldn't stop myself from rushing over to them and nuzzling them. "We did it dad! We won!" Lisa said happily.

I gave my son and daughter an approving nod. "Yes, you did. And I am very proud of both of you..." I said, a wave of relief washed over me, at long last, after so many years... it was finally over... we could live in peace.

However, Dwayne had a sorrowful look on his face. "Dwayne? What's wrong?" I asked him. Dwayne paused for a moment, whatever it was, he was quite hesitant to bring it up. But then, he looked at me, tears in his eyes. "I saw mom." He said simply.

What? I... Impossible... Chara died before Lisa had even hatched... "The Sorceress... she turned her into a husk and used her as some kind of... guard dog or something... we... we had to... we..." Dwayne said, unable to finish his sentence. But I understood what he meant... my beloved, turned into a husk by that witch... I should have known she would, but it still horrified me all the same. "It's okay son... you did right by her to end her suffering... I'm sorry you had to see her... like that." I said trying to comfort him.

He then looked up at me. "Before we did though... she told me to tell you she never blamed you for what happened to her..." He then said. I just stood in shocked silence, had she broken free of The Sorceress' control before death? Or was it only temporary? But even more shocking, she forgave me... she forgave me for failing to protect her...

I held my two children close. "Your mother loved you both very much... and she'll always be with us." I told them. My own two children, who not only survived their time away from the Dragon Realms, but ended the conflict that had forced me to send them away... no father in the realms could be more proud than I was today...

* * *

_**The Next Day...**_

* * *

Repairs had already begun on the destroyed Warfang, all the husks had dropped dead since The Sorceress had been killed and could no longer supply the magic to sustain them, and it seemed that we dragons could finally live in peace. I stood in the dragon temple with my father and sister. The Guardians had asked him to come to their chambers for something. "You wanted to see me?" Dad asked the guardians.

The guardians all looked at each other, each of them silently agreeing on something before Terrador looked to dad. "Yes Blaze, after all that had happened yesterday, we would be honored if you would join us as the new fire guardian." He said.

Dad was shocked, he had just been offered the position of Fire Guardian. Kind of ironic given how much he hated the guardians when we first brought him here. "M... me? Fire Guardian?" He said in shock.

Cyril nodded. "Indeed, while you've been a bit brash and hot headed at times, you've shown great bravery and strength in the battle for Warfang and the events leading up to it... Ignitus would have been proud to have you as his successor." Cyril said.

Volteer nodded in agreement. "Indeed, I think you're quite qualified for this most prestigious position. We'd be quite honored to welcome you into our fold." He said cheerfully.

Dad looked down at us. As if silently asking us if he should accept. I gave him a nod, he then turned to the guardians. "I would be honored." He said. The Guardians happy to see he had accepted.

Terrador nodded. "I knew you would, being a guardian is a great responsibility Blaze, our duty is to protect the younger generations and supply them with our wisdom, you seem perfectly capable of both." He said.

Dad then looked down to me and Lisa. "You two should run along now, I have things to discuss with my fellow guardians." Dad said, me and Lisa nodded and left.

Lisa went off to do her own thing, while I ran into Spyro. "So? What was it about?" He asked me. Referring to what the guardians had summoned dad about.

"They wanted to make him the new Fire Guardian. And he accepted." I told him. Spyro seemed surprised. But he then nodded. "I think he'll make a fine guardian." He said. I was kinda surprised at how well he took it considering how close he was to dads predecessor. But then again, he probably felt it was time to move on.

He then smirked at me. "So... how are things between you and your new mate?" He asked me teasingly. God why did he have to use the word "mate"? "Dude shut up." I said causing Spyro to laugh. "Come on Dwayne, I'm just teasing." Spyro said.

I just shook my head. I then noticed that Koria was sitting out on the balcony overlooking the city. Spyro silently urged me to go join her, so I did.

When I approached her she gave me a smile. "It's still hard to get used to... knowing that it's all over, that we won't have to worry about The Sorceress, mages, or husks ever again." Koria said. I couldn't disagree, I had gotten so used to looking out for evil magic goons recently, knowing they were gone for good was bizarre to say the least. Koria then looked out to the city. "Dwayne... can I ask you something?" She asked me.

I nodded, Koria paused for a second. "Do you ever miss it? Being human I mean?" Koria asked. You know, that was a good question, I had been worrying about so much lately I almost forgot about the life I had left behind in The Human Realms. However, I knew the answer now. "I used to, but I really didn't have anything back there, it was just me and Lisa. But here, I have friends, a father, and you." I said. Koria blushing at that last part. She then kissed me lightly.

"Well... you two seemed to have improved your relationship!"

Me and Koria turned to see Taven, Darius, and Bianca standing behind us, Taven laughing his tail off. Me and Koria too embarrassed to defend ourselves. However Bianca thumped Taven on the back of the head. "Don't listen to Taven, he's just mad because he's doomed to die alone and unloved." Bianca said teasing to Taven.

Taven sprang up. "Excuse me?!" He blurted, Bianca had no response, too busy laughing at Taven's expense. We all joined her in laughter, even Spyro and Cynder joined in, something Taven didn't approve of as he just crossed his arms and huffed.

A lot had happened to me since I got here, I made friends, met my father, said goodbye to my mother, beat the badguy, and found love. No... I don't think I'm gonna

miss being human at all...

* * *

**The End**

* * *

**Author's Note: And there it is, story number five done! Bag it and tag it!**

**I'd like to thank Draconic Starblade for helping with this story, including coming up with the premise for me. And I'd also like to thank all of you who were willing to put up with my crap and increasingly long periods between chapters to see this story to the end.**

**What's next for me? I have no clue. I kinda want to take a break for a while. Maybe a week or two before I start another story.**

**Until then, I'm open to suggestions, I have a list of story ideas on my profile if you'd like to take a gander. But give it a few weeks/months and I'll probably think of something on my own...**

**Will this get a sequel? Maybe, maybe not, depends on if I come up with something or not.**

**Until we meet again! *Throws a smoke bomb to the floor and vanishes like a ninja***


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